In the high-stakes field of biotechnology, where breakthroughs can change lives and failures can cost a lot of money, few leaders have been as precise and bold as Neil Kumar, Ph.D. Kumar is the co-founder and CEO of BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. He has built a company that changes the way drugs are made. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 and uses a daring “hub-and-spoke” model. It brings together experts in a corporate hub and then creates focused subsidiaries for specific diseases. This new structure lets the company work on a wide range of therapies for genetic disorders, from rare pediatric conditions to debilitating cardiomyopathies. BridgeBio has not only survived the biotech bear markets under Kumar’s leadership, but it has also become a powerhouse, with a market capitalization of more than $12 billion and a string of clinical victories that promise to change how patients do.
From Strategy Consultant to Biotech Visionary
Neil Kumar’s rise to the top of BridgeBio shows how powerful it is to combine hard data with business sense. Kumar has a Ph.D. and worked at McKinsey & Company in the early years of his career. He was an associate principal there, where he learned a lot about strategies for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. He was a key figure in McKinsey’s personalized medicine projects, giving advice on how genomics could change the way drugs are discovered. This time was important for him because it showed him how biotech was inefficient, with high costs, siloed efforts, and a failure rate that left promising genetic targets unexplored.
Kumar moved to Third Rock Ventures, a top biotech venture firm, as a principal in order to have a bigger impact. There, he oversaw portfolio companies, led due diligence, and helped start new businesses. One of the most important jobs was as interim vice president of business development and operations at MyoKardia, Inc., a startup that makes precision medicine for rare heart diseases. Bristol Myers Squibb bought MyoKardia for $13.1 billion, which made Kumar believe that venture-backed models, while new, often split resources and raised costs. “It would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars if I worked for a company backed by venture capital.” Kumar said in a recent interview, “If I were in pharma, it would have cost even more.” This shows how determined he is to find a better way.
Kumar helped start BridgeBio Pharma in 2015 with the goal of “discovering, creating, testing, and delivering transformative medicines” for genetic diseases that are well-known. The company raised its Series B in a Palo Alto office that was known for having leaky ceilings during investor pitches. Kumar’s vision won out, though. BridgeBio’s hub gives its spokes the infrastructure for research and development, knowledge of regulations, and the ability to make things on a large scale, which can cut development costs by up to 80% in some cases. He is also the founder and executive chair of GondolaBio, a company that expands his work on genetic therapeutics.
BridgeBio’s Milestones: Impact and Efficiency
Under Kumar’s leadership, BridgeBio has become a biotech outlier by focusing on capital efficiency and patient-centered innovation. A hallmark achievement is the advancement of acoramidis (branded as Attruby in the U.S. and Beyonttra in Europe), a stabilizer for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), a progressive heart condition affecting tens of thousands worldwide. BridgeBio moved this asset through Phase 2 for less than $60 million, which is much less than what is typical in the industry. The FDA approved it in November 2024. The drug’s Phase 3 ATTRibute-CM trial showed a 37% decrease in deaths and hospitalizations from any cause, making it a strong competitor against Pfizer’s Vyndaqel and Alnylam’s possible new drugs.
By early 2025, Attruby’s U.S. launch had brought in $108.1 million in sales in just the third quarter, beating analysts’ expectations and pushing BridgeBio’s revenue to $120.7 million, a 62% increase from the previous year. European approval came quickly, and Bayer, a partner, got permission to market the product. Kumar said, “Our engine is built, our playbook is proven,” showing that he was sure they could make this blockbuster bigger.
BridgeBio got its first approval in February 2024 for NULIBRY (fosdenopterin), which is for molybdenum cofactor deficiency Type A (MoCD Type A). This is a very rare disease that affects fewer than 150 children worldwide. NULIBRY was the first treatment to lower the risk of death in this terrible disease. It showed Kumar’s dedication to “orphan” diseases that big pharma often ignores.
The pipeline is still strong. In October 2025, BridgeBio’s encaleret met both primary and secondary endpoints in a late-stage trial for hypoparathyroidism, which is a rare calcium disorder. “We plan to move quickly to make this medicine available to as many patients as possible,” Kumar said, looking ahead to another filing in the near future. Partnerships help keep this momentum going. For example, a deal with Bristol Myers Squibb in 2022 uses BridgeBio’s compounds in oncology combinations, which fits with Kumar’s “better owner hypothesis” of pairing assets with the best commercial partners.
BridgeBio’s stock has gone up 131% in the past year, and as of November 2025, it was trading at $62.81. This shows that investors believe in Kumar’s model. Even though the loss was bigger than expected, recent Q3 earnings beat expectations. Analysts like Goldman Sachs raised their price targets to $100.
A Vision for the Future: Accuracy, Working Together, and Not Giving Up
As BridgeBio plans to launch several products in 2026, Kumar continues to speak out in favor of rethinking biotech. He criticizes the market’s obsession with mergers and acquisitions and tells investors to value models that last, like his. “In the end, someone has to care [about efficiency],” he told BioPharma Dive in January 2025. At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that month, Kumar talked about expanding into oncology and neurology. He also stressed the importance of AI and genomics in speeding up discoveries.
Kumar’s influence goes beyond boardrooms. He has been on panels for The Medicine Maker’s Power List and the Milken Institute. He became a member of Corning Incorporated’s board in 2025, using his knowledge of biotech to improve materials science. But there are still problems. For example, stock sales under Rule 10b5-1 plans, which totaled almost $13 million in 2025, have come under scrutiny, even though they fit with the idea of diversification in times of volatility.
Neil Kumar’s legacy is one of standing up to biotech’s high failure rates. By focusing on genetic diseases “at their source,” he has not only built a successful business but also given hope to patients who don’t have enough care. As BridgeBio grows, Kumar’s hub-and-spoke model could change how the industry comes up with new ideas. It shows that in medicine, as in code, being efficient can lead to big breakthroughs.
