Gilead Sciences has named Daniel O'Day — a longtime Roche Holdings executive — as its new CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. O'Day will succeed John Milligan, who unexpectedly announced he will leave the company by the end of the year.
Mr. O'Day most recently served as Roche's head of pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw several successful launches of new cancer drugs.
At Gilead, Mr. O'Day will be tasked with helping the drug company revive sales, using Gilead's roughly $28 billion in cash to hunt for new acquisitions and research projects.
In addition, Mr. O'Day will need to help Gilead recover from a deal that hasn't paid off as the company expected. Last year, Gilead spent about $11 billion to buy Yescarta, a CAR-T cell cancer therapy, which uses a patient's immune cells to fight off the disease. The purchase was expected to boost Gilead's sales significantly, but sales have stagnated, totaling about $183 million through the first three quarters of 2018.
Read the full report here.