Rick Gonzalez defended AbbVie’s empire. The next CEO will have to build a new one beyond Humira

As Ab­b­Vie’s CEO, Rick Gon­za­lez took Hu­mi­ra from a megablock­buster in­to some­thing sin­gu­lar: a pol­i­tics- and com­pe­ti­tion-de­fy­ing prod­uct that be­came the best-sell­ing drug of all time.

In his fi­nal act, he has pre­pared Ab­b­Vie for life af­ter its sig­na­ture prod­uct. When Gon­za­lez re­tires as CEO in Ju­ly, he’ll hand the top spot to Robert Michael, Ab­b­Vie’s pres­i­dent and chief op­er­at­ing of­fi­cer, who will in­her­it a high-fly­ing stock and two new ma­jor deals meant to set up Ab­b­Vie for the fu­ture.

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