CFO Intelligence Magazine – Winter 2022
Robert E. Laundry
Regeneration CFO
Regeneron is a publicly traded biotechnology company with a global presence that focuses on medicines for people with serious diseases. Founded and led for over 30 years by physician-scientists, the company has developed nine FDA-approved treatments — with numerous product candidates in development — designed to help patients with eye diseases, allergic and inflammatory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, pain, hematologic conditions, infectious diseases and rare diseases.
As CFO of the company, Robert E. Landry makes sure that the scientists and other colleagues at Regeneron have enough cash to continue their work. That can be a challenge in the biotech space, where companies typically grapple with significant expenses while facing long drug-development lead times. But Landry — a finance veteran who previously served as Senior VP and Treasurer of Pfizer, Inc. and earlier was CFO for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ Australian and New Zealand affiliates — isn’t fazed.
“At Regeneron, we view ourselves as a technology company that sells biopharma products,” he explains. “We enter into licensing and collaboration agreements with other organizations — including Sanofi [antibody and immunotherapy R&D], Bayer [ophthalmology], and Roche [global manufacturing and distribution collaboration for COVID-19 antibody cocktails] to spread risk and costs.” One such product, REGEN-COV, is currently authorized in the U.S. to treat people who are at high risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 infection who are either already infected and non-hospitalized, or are in certain post-exposure prophylaxis settings.
COMBINING MEDICINE AND FINANCE
In addition to direct-reporting departments like Controller’s, Treasury, Financial Planning, Tax, and Internal Audit, Landry’s also responsible for the financing operations of Regeneron’s far-flung R&D and other facilities in Ireland, the UK, Canada and elsewhere. And although he’s not a scientist — Landry has a degree in accounting from Notre Dame — he often deals with them, and has to under[1]stand enough basic medical concepts to interact with them and to explain Regeneron’s strategies to potential and existing investors.