A high-level executive from Illumina will take the helm of the early cancer detection company.

Omar Ford

October 15, 2021

2 Min Read
IMG_Oct152021at35351PM.jpg
Sundry Photography-stock.adobe.com

Hans Bishop is stepping down as Grail’s CEO and Illumina’s COO, Bob Ragusa has been appointed to take the helm of the early cancer detection company. The move comes as Illumina has recently closed on its $8 billion acquisition of Grail despite an anti-trust investigation being conducted in Europe and the U.S.

Bishop, who has been CEO of Grail since 2019, will serve as an advisor to Ragusa through the end of 2021.

"Successfully bringing Galleri, Grail's multi-cancer early detection test, to market has been one of the proudest achievements of my career," said Hans Bishop. "I am grateful to have led Grail over the last two and a half years. With Illumina, Grail's world-class talent will advance innovation to further accelerate the development and commercialization of new diagnostic tools and services in the fight against cancer."

Ragusa has more than 30 years of experience in genomics. As Illumina's COO, he was responsible for significantly scaling the business to serve over seven thousand customers in more than 140 countries. He was also responsible for Illumina's Clinical Lab Services which processed millions of genomic samples per year.

His organization included the global Manufacturing, Clinical Lab Services, Supply Chain, Quality, Life Cycle Management, Information Technology, and Global Facilities and Real Estate teams, all committed to ensuring high product quality and customer satisfaction.

The change in leadership comes at an interesting time for both companies as anti-trust investigations are running hot.

Illumina has said it would keep both companies separate until an investigation from the FTC is complete.

Late last month, the European Commission sent a Statement of Objections to the gene sequencing specialist, Illumina, informing the company of the interim measures it intends to adopt following the alleged breach of the standstill obligation under the EU Merger Regulation.

 

About the Author(s)

Omar Ford

Omar Ford is MD+DI's Editor-in-Chief. You can reach him at [email protected].

 

Sign up for the QMED & MD+DI Daily newsletter.

You May Also Like