The World's 50 Greatest Leaders

George Yancopoulos

WGL.08.Geroge-Yancopoulos
George Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, right, listens during the Bloomberg Year Ahead Conference in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017. The event will create a 360-degree view of the most urgent topics facing executives in the coming year. Photographer: Alex Flynn/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAlex FlynnBloomberg/Getty Images
  • Title
    Chief Scientific Officer, cofounder
  • Affiliation
    Regeneron

Regeneron and Yancopoulos are racing to fight COVID-19 on two fronts. The company’s rheumatoid arthritis drug sped into clinical trials in March after evidence emerged from China that it may help the most severely ill patients. Since January, Yancopoulos’s team has also been developing an antibody cocktail—the same approach that helped Regeneron deliver an Ebola drug last year—to treat the disease and serve as a prophylaxis for medical workers.