/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/RQHOXL6ZKNS73EC62HURGVP4BM.jpg)
This is an excerpt of an article from STAT, the health and medicine news site that’s a partner to the Globe. For a full version of this story and related coverage, visit STAT.
Biogen, a biotech giant plagued by years of boardroom strife, said late Monday that the longtime and polarizing director Alex Denner would step down from its board, sending a signal to investors that the company’s fractious recent history might be coming to a close.
What Biogen didn’t disclose is that its nominee to replace Denner on the board, Susan Langer, is Denner’s live-in romantic partner and the mother of his child, born in November, according to court records obtained by STAT. Denner is in the middle of a protracted divorce from his wife of nearly 25 years, with whom he has two teenage sons — a bitter legal fight in which his extra-marital relationship with Langer is a contentious issue, according to the records.
Biogen spokesperson Jack Cox said the company knew about the relationship between Denner and Langer. He also confirmed that Denner nominated Langer to Biogen’s board but declined to comment on the company’s vetting process and whether it planned to disclose the relationship to shareholders before they vote on Langer’s candidacy later this month. Biogen also omitted mention of the relationship from Langer’s biography in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday morning.
Advertisement
Langer, 32, is the daughter of famed biotech inventor and billionaire Bob Langer, a decorated Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who has co-founded more than three dozen companies, including Moderna. She graduated from Cornell University, her father’s alma mater, in 2013 and began her career at Biogen in business development immediately afterward, getting promoted seven times in seven years before leaving the company in 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her roles included head of corporate strategy. In the years since leaving Biogen, she has served in leadership roles at biotech startups funded by Polaris Partners, a Boston venture capital firm with close ties to her father.
Advertisement
If Langer wins election at Biogen’s annual shareholder meeting on June 26, she would be the youngest member of the board by two decades.
Denner did not respond to a request for comment. Langer, through her attorney, could not be reached.
Langer’s nomination, and Biogen’s failure to disclose her relationship with a current director, is certain to raise questions about the company’s corporate governance practices.
Three former Biogen executives who worked with Langer in her time at the company expressed shock at her nomination to the company’s board. Speaking to STAT on Monday night, each spoke positively about Langer’s performance on the job but said she lacked the necessary qualifications and experience to serve on the board of a $45 billion pharmaceutical company with outposts around the world.
All three said they were stunned Biogen would allow a director to nominate his romantic partner to the board — especially without publicly disclosing the relationship.
“How do you not disclose that relationship?” said a former Biogen executive. “I have only good things to say about Susan, but she’s young…. She has no public board experience. Her nomination makes no sense.”
Denner, 53, is managing partner of Sarissa Capital Management, a health care hedge fund. He joined the Biogen board in 2009 and currently serves as chair of Biogen’s corporate governance committee, where his duties include “identifying qualified nominees to our board of directors and its committees,” and overseeing “potential conflicts of interest and related party transactions involving directors and executive officers,” according to the company’s annual report.
Advertisement
The romantic relationship between Denner and Langer was first reported by Endpoints News. Their child and Denner’s ongoing divorce proceedings have not previously been reported.
The story continues on statnews.com. Globe subscribers get a special discount.