Temui jutawan jati Queens di belakang pembuat ubat COVID-19 Regeneron

Oleh Noah Manskar

Syarikat bioteknologi Presiden Trump dikreditkan dengan membantunya menangkis koronavirus yang dikendalikan oleh dua jutawan Queens yang masih berakar di New York.

Regeneron – firma yang berpusat di Westchester di belakang koktel antibodi eksperimen yang diterima Trump ketika bertempur dengan COVID-19 – dipimpin oleh CEO Leonard Schleifer dan ketua pegawai saintifik George Yancopoulos, yang telah menjadikan syarikat itu menjadi salah satu pakaian bioteknologi terkemuka di negara ini.

Schleifer dan Yancopoulos tumbuh berdekatan antara satu sama lain di Queens tetapi tidak pernah bertemu ketika mereka masih muda, menurut profil pasangan Forbes 2013. Schleifer, 68, dibesarkan di Rego Park, di mana dia menjalankan perniagaan penyalinan salji sendiri, lapor CNN, sementara Yancopoulous, 61, dilaporkan dibesarkan oleh ayah pendatangnya dari Yunani di Woodside.

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Leonard Schleifer

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Schleifer, ketika itu penolong profesor neurologi di Weill Cornell Medical College, mendirikan Regeneron pada tahun 1988 dan pada tahun berikutnya dia merekrut Yancopoulos, seorang lulusan Sekolah Tinggi Sains Bronx yang merupakan bintang yang sedang meningkat naik sebagai profesor muda Columbia, menurut laporan.

Keduanya dilaporkan bertemu di sebuah restoran Itali di Westchester, di mana mereka disertai oleh ayah Yancopoulos.

“Ayahnya ingin menemubual saya, dan bukannya meyakinkan George,” kata Schleifer kepada Forbes.

George Yancopoulos

George YancopoulosREUTERS

Syarikat yang mereka bina pada tahun-tahun berikutnya telah mengembangkan tujuh rawatan yang diluluskan oleh FDA dan juga ubat coronavirus eksperimentalnya, yang telah menunjukkan tanda-tanda membantu orang menghilangkan virus yang berpotensi mematikan.

Regeneron mengumumkan pada 7 Oktober bahawa pihaknya telah meminta izin penggunaan kecemasan untuk rawatan, yang akan menjadikannya lebih luas untuk pesakit COVID-19.

Kedua-dua lelaki itu, yang kedua-duanya tinggal di Westchester, telah membina banyak kekayaan sepanjang perjalanan. Schleifer, yang memiliki hampir 4 peratus saham biasa Regeneron, bernilai $ 2.4 bilion, sementara Yancopoulos bernilai $ 1.3 bilion dan memiliki sekitar 2 peratus saham syarikat itu, menurut Forbes.

Meet the Queens-bred billionaires behind COVID-19 drugmaker Regeneron

The biotech company President Trump credited with helping him fend off the coronavirus is run by two Queens-bred billionaires who still have roots in New York.

Regeneron — the Westchester-based firm behind the experimental antibody cocktail Trump received while battling COVID-19 — is helmed by CEO Leonard Schleifer and chief scientific officer George Yancopoulos, who have built the company into one of the nation’s leading biotech outfits.

Schleifer and Yancopoulos grew up near each other in Queens but never met in their youth, according to a 2013 Forbes profile of the pair. Schleifer, 68, was bred in Rego Park, where he ran his own snow-shoveling business, CNN reports, while Yancopoulous, 61, was reportedly raised by his Greek immigrant father in Woodside.

Leonard Schleifer

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Schleifer, then an assistant neurology professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, founded Regeneron in 1988 and the following year he recruited Yancopoulos, a Bronx High School of Science graduate who was a rising star as a young Columbia professor, according to reports.

The two reportedly met at an Italian restaurant in Westchester, where they were joined by Yancopoulos’ dad.

“His father wanted to interview me, rather than me convincing George,” Schleifer recalled to Forbes.

The company they built in the years that followed has developed seven FDA-approved treatments as well as its experimental coronavirus drug, which has shown signs of helping people shake off the potentially deadly virus.

Regeneron announced Oct. 7 that it has sought an emergency use authorization for the treatment, which would make it more widely available to COVID-19 patients.

The two men, who both live in Westchester, have built substantial fortunes along the way. Schleifer, who owns almost 4 percent of Regeneron’s common stock, is worth $2.4 billion, while Yancopoulos is worth $1.3 billion and owns about 2 percent of the company’s shares, according to Forbes.

The biotech company President Trump credited with helping him fend off the coronavirus is run by two Queens-bred billionaires who still have roots in New York.

— Read on nypost.com/article/meet-the-queens-bred-billionaires-behind-covid-drug-maker-regeneron/