PROFILE: Myron Holubiak, new president of Roche Labs (03/14/99)

PROFILE: Myron Holubiak, new president of Roche Labs

by Camilla Huk

NUTLEY, N.J. - There was only one regret I had in meeting with the new president of Roche Labs, Myron Holubiak, and that was that his parents didn't live to see this accomplished man in his plush offices in the executive suite on the pharmaceutical giant's Nutley campus.

Roche Labs, a subsidiary of Hoffmann La Roche, has revenues of over $2.8 billion and 3,500 employees. It is a long way from the tent in the displaced persons camp in Linz, Austria, where Mr. Holubiak was born in 1947.

Like many Ukrainian families, Myron's father, Alexander, who was the mayor of Horozhanka in the Ternopil region, fled the terrors of the Soviet occupation. He eventually came to the United States with his wife, Stephanie, and three children, Myron, and his sisters, Vera (who had polio and was fully paralyzed) and Ivanka. Having survived incarceration in concentration camps, the senior Holubiak was grateful that the Justice family of Ashville, N.C., sponsored his entire family. In return, Alexander became a tenant farmer on the Justices' estate.

Mr. Holubiak's earliest recollection of that period in his life center on having been shot. He was 4 years old and was shot in the leg by a 13-year-old boy with a rifle, who pointed it at Myron and didn't know it was loaded. Mr. Holubiak vividly recalled the hospital and medical care; one cannot help but wonder what impact this had on his choice of a future career.

By the time Myron was 5, at the urging of their father's cousin, Nicholai Turczyn, who wrote them of the good work and salaries in the city's steel mills, the family moved to Pittsburgh. Ultimately, his father did not work in the mills, when it became clear that the hardships of life left him too debilitated to take on such strenuous labor. Thus, he assumed the janitorship for the Fairfax Apartments in Virginia, where he continued to work for 16 years.

In Pittsburgh, young Myron became an active member of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM), and his mother was a member of the choir and active in St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church. Ukrainian was the language spoken at home and Myron was expected to read to his parents in Ukrainian daily. Even though times were not easy, his father was politically active and was particularly involved with the Ukrainian National Aid Association, an organization that was a major focal point of the community.

Mr. Holubiak's pride in his father is evident. As he speaks of this educated man, who was astute enough to bring his family to America and willing to work so hard to ensure his children's well-being, his sadness that his parents could not share in his success today is apparent.

In addition to having lost his parents, in recent years Mr. Holubiak also lost his sister Ivanka to breast cancer. He credits his other sister, Vera, with helping to rear their sister's children, despite her own physical limitations.

Before Mr. Holubiak went on to the University of Pennsylvania, he attended St. Canice High School, a small school, with only 86 students in his graduating class, 26 of them boys. Upon graduation from college, he worked in a hospital, initially as a lab technician, then as a surgical technician, while pursuing graduate work in biophysics and molecular biology. In time, he began to rethink his career objectives; when Hoffmann La Roche was recruiting sales representatives, he applied. Within eight months of joining Roche he was promoted to medical center representative, and within two years was moved to the company's main campus in Nutley.

There he had an opportunity to work with HLR's current CEO and president, Pat Zenner, in marketing research. He grew to be the division sales manager in Virginia, where he spent the next two and a half years. This led to his promotion to product director, a position in which he added two major accomplishments to his already stellar career.

First, he took over the marketing of Bactrim, a product that combines two antibiotics that has been safely and effectively used for many years to treat common urinary tract infections, and is also prescribed to people who have respiratory infections. Bactrim is used for the prevention and treatment of PCP pneumonia and may be effective in preventing and treating some other infections that occur in HIV, including toxoplasmosis, salmonella and shigella. Roche sales were behind the competition, which had a similar product, but Mr. Holubiak came up with a new concept to promote Bactrim that led Roche into the forefront of the market.

Mr. Holubiak also was involved in the planning and launch of Rocephin (ceftriaxone sodium), a third-generation cephalosporin antibiotic for treatment of many serious infections. Rocephin has become the most widely used injectable antibiotic and hospital product in the U.S. After this effort he was named director of sales promotion. When Roche went through its "Operation Turnabout" in 1987, he headed three departments, now consolidated into one, and was named an assistant vice-president and director of promotion.

However, the lure of having equity in his own company drove Mr. Holubiak to join former Roche employees Emery J. Dupuis and Michele Crocco to form Emron. Their company quickly grew from a three-person business to a recognized industry leader in managed health care education, training, marketing and communications, with 83 employees and over $12 million in revenue.

Eventually acquired by Dun and Bradstreet, the company became successful in large measure to Mr. Holubiak's strategy of recruiting high-level pharmaceutical professionals who were an integral part of the managed care industry. The strategy of encouraging rational evaluation of pharmaceutical products - without focusing solely on cost-based generics - led to a major shift in the focus to benefits and value. Since the managed care industry is responsible for 48 percent of prescription drug purchases, this was a significant coup.

Along with noted leaders in managed care pharmacy, Messrs. Holubiak and Dupuis helped establish the Academy and Foundation of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP and FMCP), the professional association of managed care pharmacy.

With Emron a wholly owned subsidiary of IMS International and the Dun and Bradstreet Corp., Mr. Holubiak and his team now focused on the pharmaceutical needs of more than 30 million people covered by managed care plans, consulting on managed care technology systems/information, and services to contain costs and improve processing efficiency.

There was a year to go on his contract with Emron when Mr. Holubiak was called back to Roche by its president, Mr. Zenner. Faced with the challenge of launching at least 10 major revolutionary drugs for widely diverse applications and markets, Mr. Holubiak said he was delighted to return to his former employer. His position as president of Roche Laboratories requires meeting the challenge of different cultures (Roche is a Swiss company), and using all his experience to continue providing leadership to maintain Roche's "best in the industry" status.

Today, the challenge has grown from marketing within the borders of a given country to a global environment - now as limitless as communication capabilities. Mr. Holubiak explained that one of Roche's drugs, Xenical, a new lipase inhibitor indicated for weight loss and maintenance alone, or for associated health risks such as hypertension, elevated lipids, diabetes and obesity, is awaiting FDA approval. Already selling in Europe, this unique drug takes a completely novel approach to weight control. It is not an appetite suppressant; instead it reduces the absorption of fat, allowing it to pass through the system. Thus, it will help patients not only lose weight, but also keep it off.

There is also the challenge of keeping prices equitable for such popular drugs throughout the world. Previously, the U.S. often subsidized medical care; with a thrust towards a globalization policy, resolving these issues will not be easy.

The dangers of the flu, which can lead in many cases to pneumonia and even death, plus the prospect of a pandemic flu, which is predicted within the next few years, has had Roche focusing on finding remedies. Having already found remedies for Type A and Type B influenza, Roche's flu drug, a neuraminidase inhibitor, is an oral medication that is competing with an inhaled version from a British maker. Roche has found that the medication is effective not only in treating the flu but also in preventing it from developing.

After explaining all his continually growing professional responsibilities, Mr. Holubiak sat back and spoke about his family. His first wife was killed in a tragic auto accident. He is proud of his two sons from that marriage, Myron and Jason. Though neither has followed in his father's footsteps, both he said have chosen careers of personal satisfaction. Myron is a police officer in Tucson, Ariz., while Jason is a vice-president of a creative arts company, geared to the architectural industry. He and his wife, Michelle, have recently presented Mr. Holubiak with his first grandchild, Benjamin.

Mr. Holubiak and his wife, Dawn, who was also a Roche Medical Center Representative, are the parents of Tanya, 12, and Ian, 8. The Holubiaks continue to support the Ukrainian community, particularly with their commitment to the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund based in Short Hills, N.J.

Reflecting on his career, Mr. Holubiak advised young people to "believe in themselves, make sure that they're educated, and take the time to step back and examine their direction, themselves."

But most of all, Mr. Holubiak stressed the need for "high integrity." He underlined: "Be honest to yourself and everyone else. Be direct and chose your goals and go after them."

He urged continuous education and training. "Keep up your skills, don't let them get rusty," he urged. This is what he valued most at Roche. The training he received from Roche during his early days as a sales representative - Mr. Holubiak equated this training and opportunity with an M.B.A. - is what helped him get where he is today: at the pinnacle of the pharmaceutical industry.

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