When you’re the head of the company that makes the top selling drug in the world, you focus on making sure there’s enough supply of your product to keep sales strong. As CEO of Merck, Robert Davis supervises the manufacturing and distribution of Keytruda, or pembrolizumab, the game-changing immunotherapy drug that has saved the lives of millions of cancer patients. Keytruda releases the brakes that keep immune cells from attacking cancer, and while successful on its own, doctors are increasingly combining the drug with other cancer therapies to improve outcomes for patients with a range of cancers, including head and neck, cervical, and kidney cancers. In coming years, Davis anticipates further expanding Keytruda’s reach; last fall, the FDA approved a more convenient form of the drug that doctors can inject, removing the need to install a port.
To account for the demand, in April Davis announced plans to build a $1 billion biologics center in Wilmington, Del., and expects that eventually most of the world’s supply of Keytruda will be made there.