Randal J. Kirk
Chief Executive Officer, Intrexon Corporation
RJ Kirk, an attorney by training, entered the biomedical field in 1983 co-founding General Injectables and Vaccines. General Injectables ensured vaccines and therapeutic drugs were accessible at the point-of-care as pre-loaded injectables, helping to pioneer an intervention that is now a healthcare standard.
RJ is one of biotech’s foremost individual investors, inventors, and executives, bringing a number of successful drugs to market, including those during his decade-plus leadership of New River Pharmaceuticals. After New River was sold to Shire, he went on to serve as chairman of Clinical Data, an early innovator in pharmacogenomics which utilized the power of ‘big data’ in therapeutic design.
In 2009, RJ became the CEO of Intrexon Corporation and has since devoted himself and the company to advancing genetic and biological engineering to benefit the health and well-being of humans, animals, and the environment.