Ex-CEO of Incyte Hervé Hoppenot on 10x Growth, Biotech Cycles, and Breaking Bureaucracy | E58

When Hervé joined Incyte in 2014, the launch of lead product Jakafi in the US was a little choppy. By the time he left in 2025, he had grown their revenue from $300 million to a whopping $5 billion. We also talk about the bureaucracy of Big Pharma, rare diseases, and why a biotech M&A supercycle isn’t as likely as you might think.

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⭐️ ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Prior to his time at Incyte, Hervé led the oncology business unit at Novartis and had leading roles at Aventis (now Sanofi). He is currently on the boards of companies including Incyte, Pierre Fabre, and Bicycle Therapeutics.

🔗 LINKS MENTIONED

• Pascal Touchon 🇫🇷 | Cell Therapy, Jeito, Kymriah | E49 —https://flot.bio/episode/pascal-touchon-jeito/
• Alessandro Riva, Transgene | Cancer Vaccines, Oncolytic Viruses | E50— https://flot.bio/personalized-cancer-vaccine-oncolytic-viruses/
• Penn and Novartis CAR-T alliance (2012) — https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/university-pennsylvania-and-novartis-form-alliance-expand-use-personalized-t-cell-therapy-cance
• Incyte and Novartis deal (2009) —https://investor.incyte.com/news-releases/news-release-details/incyte-announces-major-collaboration-and-license-agreement-two
• Hoppenot steps down as Incyte CEO (2025) — https://investor.incyte.com/news-releases/news-release-details/incyte-announces-change-its-board-directors
• argenx leadership transition (2026) —https://argenx.com/news/2026/press-release-3212418
• BioNTech co-founders leadership transition (2026) — https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-and-co-founders-announce-plan-pursue-next-generation
• Incyte tumbles after combo therapy with Merck fails study (2018) — https://www.reuters.com/article/incyte-study/update-2-incyte-tumbles-after-combo-therapy-with-merck-fails-study-idUSL4N1RJ2HW/
• Bristol-Myers Squibb receives accelerated approval of Opdivo (2014) — https://news.bms.com/news/details/2014/Bristol-Myers-Squibb-Receives-Accelerated-Approval-of-Opdivo-nivolumab-from-the-US-Food-and-Drug-Administration/default.aspx
• U.S. FDA approves Padcev (2025) https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/us-fda-approves-padcevr-plus-keytrudar-certain-patients
• Fabrice Chouraqui, Pharming 🇳🇱 | Transgenic Rabbits, Rare Diseases | E43 — https://flot.bio/episode/fabrice-chouraqui-pharming-transgenic-rabbit/
• Isomorphic Labs secures $2.1 billion funding (2026) — https://storage.googleapis.com/isomorphiclabs-website-public-artifacts/ISOMORPHIC_LABS_FUNDING_12-05-26.pdf

📜 TRANSCRIPT

Read the full transcript here: https://flot.bio/episode/herve-hoppenot-incyte-jafaki/

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Flot.bio is a show to watch the best Europeans in biotech to help you grow. Hosted by Philip Hemme. 25k monthly views. Free.

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00:00] Intro
• [00:02:59] Hervé Hoppenot’s Incyte legacy
• [00:12:12] Leadership transitions in Incyte, argenx and BioNTech
• [00:13:43] The JAK inhibitor market
• [00:19:36] Why forecasting in pharma is so broken
• [00:29:17] Investor expectations and the Jakafi cliff 
• [00:36:51] Biotechs trading under cash
• [00:40:01] Hervé Hoppenot’s European roots
• [00:44:40] Big Pharma and bureaucracy
• [00:51:58] Quick-fire questions