David Brennan may be chief executive of an Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, but the US-born manager spends a lot of time in his native country. This mostly reflects his role as head of PhRMA, the US trade association for the industry, and his interest in the healthcare reform debate. But his four children live in the US as well and he still watches the Philadelphia Eagles American football team occasionally.
The 55-year-old started out as a salesman – still an unusual background for a pharmaceuticals chief executive – at Merck in the US, before joining Sweden's Astra through a joint venture with the US company. Following the AstraZeneca merger he led the group's operations in the US before succeeding Sir Tom McKillop – the former chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland – as chief executive.
AstraZeneca has sat on the sidelines during the current bout of merger activity in the industry, even though some analysts think it has a weak pipeline of future drugs.