Renee Gala joins a short list of female biopharma chief executives as she is set to take the reins at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, replacing the company’s co-founder Bruce Cozadd.
Cozadd announced his intention to step down in December, ending his 16-year run as CEO. The Dublin-based company said it examined internal and external candidates, before settling on Gala who has been with Jazz for five years, serving as chief financial officer before her promotion to chief operating officer in October of 2023. Her appointment becomes effective on August 11.
In taking over Jazz, Gala, 53, becomes one of the few female CEOs running a pharma company. The largest companies in the industry led by women are GSK with Emma Walmsley, Merck KGaA with Belen Garijo, and Vertex with Reshma Kewalramani. Jazz is smaller in comparison, with reported revenue of $4.1 billion last year.
“I am honored to step into the CEO role and build upon Jazz’s extraordinary legacy, fueled by exceptional people, a spirit of purpose and an unwavering commitment to patients,” Gala said in a release. “With a market-leading portfolio of medicines, a promising pipeline, a strong financial position and an ongoing focus on corporate development, Jazz has immense potential—and more work to be done to realize it.”
Gala is one of six women in Jazz’s C-Suite. Others include chief accounting officer Patricia Carr and chief commercial officer Samantha Pearce. Gala will join the board at Jazz, while Cozadd, 61, will continue as its chairman.
In a statement, Cozadd praised Gala’s leadership as being “critical in Jazz’s transformation into a high-growth biopharmaceutical company fueled by a strong R&D pipeline and robust commercial operations.”
Cozadd earned $15.5 million in 2024 compensation, according to the company’s annual report, while Gala was Jazz’s second-highest-paid executive last year at $6.6 million.
Additionally, in taking over as CEO, Jazz will bump Gala’s annual base salary from $900,000 to $1.2 million, the company said in an SEC filing. She will also receive a one-time promotion equity grant valued at $6.5 million, Jazz added.
Gala brings 30-plus years of industry experience following her graduation from Vanderbilt University. Before coming to Jazz, she held chief financial officer positions at Grail and at Theravance Biopharma. Gala worked her way up at Theravance, starting there in 2006, after five years in business development and sales at Eli Lilly.
Jazz’s top products are narcolepsy drug Xywav, which was approved five years ago and generated $1.5 billion in sales last year, and Epidiolex, a cannabis-derived treatment for seizures, which reached the market in 2018 and is set to become a blockbuster after achieving sales of $972 million in 2024.
In November of last year, Jazz scored an FDA approval for bispecific antibody Ziihera, a cancer treatment which the company has tabbed with peak sales potential of more than $2 billion.