Biogen has announced that George Scangos, its chief executive officer, will be leaving the company in the coming months after a successor has been identified. The company will begin a search for his successor immediately.

Dr. Scangos has been at Biogen for six years and has led the company through a remarkable transformation. Under his leadership, Biogen’s revenues, earnings and stock price all have increased meaningfully and the Company has been transformed into a world-class biopharmaceutical company.

Stelios Papadopoulos, chairman of the Biogen board of directors, said, “George joined Biogen at a very challenging time. He re-organized operations and he oversaw the enrichment of our product pipeline and the launch of several products. In short, George did an outstanding job and I believe he is leaving the company well positioned for success.”

“The past six years have been quite successful,” said Dr. Scangos. “We have introduced six new products onto the market, increased our earnings and revenues several fold, and transformed our R&D and commercial organizations to world-class levels, joining our already industry leading biologics manufacturing capabilities. We have brought several potentially transformative compounds into later stage clinical development and are in the process of adding to that pipeline even further.”

“The Company has an exciting future and I am proud to have had a role in helping Biogen improve the lives of so many patients today and so many more in the future,” added Dr. Scangos. “This is the right time for a new leader to take the reins and lead Biogen through its next stage of development, and I look forward to returning to the West coast to take on one more set of activities and spend more time with my family.”

The board will immediately begin a search for a replacement, and will consider both internal and external candidates. The company expects the transition to occur over a period of a few months, and in the interim, Dr. Scangos will continue to serve as CEO.