Richard Gonzalez

Richard Gonzalez served as Chairman and CEO of AbbVie from its January 2013 spinoff from Abbott Laboratories until his retirement in July 2024. A 30-year Abbott veteran who had previously retired in 2007, he was recruited back specifically to lead the newly independent AbbVie, which was essentially a one-product company built around Humira — an anti-inflammatory biologic that would become the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history. Under Gonzalez, Humira's annual revenue grew from $9 billion at AbbVie's launch to a peak of $21 billion in 2022, with cumulative lifetime revenue exceeding $200 billion. He aggressively protected the franchise through a "patent thicket" strategy — filing over 100 patents around Humira's formulation, delivery methods, and manufacturing processes — that delayed US biosimilar entry until January 2023, years after European biosimilar launches. Gonzalez's second defining move was the $63 billion acquisition of Allergan in 2020, the largest pharma deal in years. The acquisition brought Botox (the world's #1 aesthetic treatment), migraine drugs, and a broader therapeutic pipeline. While critics questioned the price tag, the deal was strategically necessary to build a diversified revenue base before Humira's inevitable decline. His successor, Rob Michael (who became CEO in July 2024), inherits an AbbVie navigating the steepest patent cliff in pharma history — Humira revenue is falling by billions annually as biosimilars capture market share. The bull case rests on the growth of Skyrizi and Rinvoq (next-generation immunology drugs), Botox's resilience, and a robust oncology pipeline. Gonzalez's legacy depends on whether the diversification he engineered proves sufficient to replace Humira's extraordinary economics.