Brent Saunders

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Brent Saunders
BornFebruary 6, 1970[citation needed]
Alma materBachelor's, University of Pittsburgh[1]
MBA, Temple University[1]
JD, Temple University[1]
Occupation(s)Chairman and CEO of Bausch + Lomb
Founder of Vesper Healthcare Acquisition[2]
Chairman of The Beauty Health Company[3]
Chairman of Hugel America[4]
Known forBiopharma executive, entrepreneur[5]

Brent Saunders (1969 or 1970) is an American biopharma executive and entrepreneur who is the chairman and CEO of the health company Bausch & Lomb. He helped lead various mergers and acquisitions, including the mergers between Merck and Schering-Plough, the acquisition of Bausch + Lomb by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and the $63 billion acquisition of Allergan by Abbvie.[6][7] He is the founder of special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Vesper Healthcare Acquisition.[2] Saunders is also executive chairman of medical aesthetics companies The Beauty Health Company and Hugel America.[3][4]

Early life and education[edit]

Saunders was born in 1969 or 1970 to Charles and Sheila Saunders, a urologist and social worker.[1][6] He grew up in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, with a twin brother Wayne and sister Reed,[1] and graduated from Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania in 1988.[1]

He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he was president of the student government board,[1] and graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in economics and East Asian studies.[1] In 1996, he received MBA and J.D. degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia.[1]

Career[edit]

In 1996, while attending law school, Saunders started working part time at Jefferson Health as a compliance officer.[1]

In 2000, Saunders joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a healthcare compliance manager, and became partner and head of the firm's compliance business advisory services group.[1] In October 2003, Saunders was hired as senior vice president of global compliance and business practices at Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company.[1] In mid-2007, he became president of consumer health care at Schering-Plough, with responsibility for a business unit of products including Coppertone, Dr. Scholl's, and Claritin.[1] In 2009, Saunders led the integration team of Schering-Plough's merger with Merck.[7]

In 2010, Saunders was appointed chief executive officer Bausch & Lomb, an eye health company.[8] In 2010 he was appointed to the Federal Reserve advisory board.[9] In 2013, as CEO of Bausch + Lomb, he oversaw its acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, now known as Bausch Health, for $8.7 billion.[7] He joined Valeant in an advisory role to assist with the transition.[10] In October, Saunders joined pharmaceutical company Forest Laboratories as CEO.[11]

In May 2014, Saunders was named chief executive officer of Actavis, a pharmaceutical company, after the company acquired Forest Laboratories.[12] In November, Saunders negotiated Actavis' merger with Allergan, a pharmaceutical company, for a reported $70.5 billion.[1] The new combined company took the Allergan name.[13]

In February 2015, Saunders appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine, where he was named as "Wall Street's Drug Dealer".[6] In May 2019, Saunders survived a proposal brought by hedge fund Appaloosa Management to split Allergan's chairman and CEO roles.[14] In June, pharmaceutical company Abbvie acquired Allergan for $63 billion.[15]

In June 2020, Saunders joined the board of BridgeBio Pharma, a company founded with an IPO in 2019.[16] In September, Saunders’ special-purpose acquisition company Vesper Healthcare Acquisition publicly launched, and raised $400 million.[2] Filings indicated that Saunders owned 20% of the company after the SPAC sale.[2] In December, Saunders made his first deal with Vesper, acquiring HydraFacial, a beauty treatment company, for $1.1 billion.[7]

In May 2021, Vesper's HydraFacial deal closed, and the new company was renamed The Beauty Health Company, with Saunders taking the role of executive chairman.[3] He also served as interim CEO until February 2022.[17]

In June 2022, Saunders was named to the board of medical aesthetics company Hugel America, an affiliate of South Korea-based Hugel Inc.[4]

In March 2023, Saunders returned to Bausch + Lomb as CEO and chairman.[18] In June, Saunders signed his first deal as CEO, purchasing dry eye drug Xiidra from Novartis for $1.75 billion.[19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Brent Saunders, Parkland grad, is the Lehigh Valley's $150 billion dealmaker". The Morning Call. October 19, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Brent Saunders rides $400M wave to the top of the SPAC boom". Endpoints News. September 30, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "HydraFacial merges with Vesper Healthcare to form new, publicly traded company based in Long Beach". Long Beach Business Journal. May 7, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Ex-Allergan CEO Joins Parent of Botox Rival". Orange County Business Journal. June 21, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  5. ^ "Allergan: Pharma's Biggest Dealmaker Is On The Hunt Again". Forbes. July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "This Giant Drug Firm Won't Invent Medicines. Investors Are Cheering". Forbes. March 21, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d "Back to beauty: Former Allergan chief Saunders scoops up aesthetics company in $1.1B deal". Fierce Pharma. December 9, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  8. ^ "Brent Saunders, Bausch & Lomb CEO: The Eyes Have It". Chief Executive. March 21, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  9. ^ "Bausch & Lomb Brent Saunders Named to New York's Federal Reserve Regional Advisory Board".
  10. ^ "Drugmaker Valeant to buy Bausch & Lomb for $8.7 billion". Reuters. March 21, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  11. ^ "Forest Labs names ex-Bausch & Lomb head Brent Saunders as CEO". Reuters. September 10, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  12. ^ "Forest Labs' Saunders to Head Actavis When Deal Closes". Wall Street Journal. May 14, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  13. ^ "Allergan CEO Saunders puts on chairman's cap as Actavis architect Bisaro exits". Fierce Pharma. October 27, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  14. ^ "Allergan CEO Saunders gets to keep chairmanship after failed investor campaign". Fierce Pharma. May 1, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  15. ^ "AbbVie, nearing the end of Humira's historic run, scoops up a struggling Allergan for $63B". Fierce Pharma. June 25, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  16. ^ "Saunders finds life after Allergan on board at newly IPO'ed BridgeBio". Fierce Pharma. June 24, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  17. ^ "Beauty Health Names Andrew Stanleick CEO". Los Angeles Business Journal. January 21, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  18. ^ "Brent Saunders to return as Bausch + Lomb CEO". February 15, 2023 – via www.reuters.com.
  19. ^ Hopkins, Jared S. (June 30, 2023). "Bausch + Lomb's CEO Inks First Big Deal Since Return". Wall Street Journal – via www.wsj.com.
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