Company: Blueprint Medicines
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Hometown:Â Boston, Massachusetts
Notable in 2023: Achieving FDA approval for Blueprint's treatment of the rare disease indolent systemic mastocytosis.
For years, there were no treatments designed to target indolent systemic mastocytosis in the U.S. and Europe – the most common form of a rare blood disorder that affects roughly 75,000 patients in these regions. The condition can result in debilitating symptoms ranging from joint pain to a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction.
Cambridge-based biotech company Blueprint Medicines changed that in 2023 – and the breakthrough is among the biggest accomplishments for the firm's CEO Kate Haviland.
Under Haviland's leadership, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the company's indolent systemic mastocytosis drug, Ayvakit, in May. The agency's decision vastly expanded the reach of the treatment, which was first approved in 2021 for an advanced but less common form of the condition.
When you have women and men, and people from different ethnicities or ethnic backgrounds, and different experiences, I think what you get is strength in the variety of perspectives that really helps to foster new ideas and different approaches to problem-solving.Kate HavilandChief Executive Officer, Blueprint Medicines
In December, regulators in the European Union also greenlit Ayvakit for indolent systemic mastocytosis, adding to the drug's two other approved uses there.
"What was tremendously rewarding for me in 2023 was the opportunity to bring Ayvakit to this much broader set of patients," Haviland told CNBC.
She recalled a mother suffering from the disease who thanked Blueprint for how the drug helped her and her family.
"Those stories, those interactions, they're why I'm in this industry," said Haviland, who became CEO in April 2022 after spending six years moving up the ranks in the company's C-suite.
Blueprint's revenue jumped around 22% last year compared to 2022. That's largely thanks to Ayvakit, which booked $204.2 million in revenue in 2023, up a whopping 83% from the year earlier.
But Haviland said the company's success isn't just about cutting-edge drug development and commercial execution – it's also about fostering a work environment that values diversity. Blueprint's executive team is 50% women, well above industry standard.
"I fundamentally believe that in order to succeed in a very complex business, like biotechnology, you need multiple diverse points of view because there is often no one right answer," she said.
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