User:Lehmansson/sandbox2

Career in pharmaceuticals[edit]
Since 1999, Wessman's career has been focused on the generics and biosimilars sectors of the pharmaceuticals industry. He is known outside of Iceland for founding and leading several global companies in these fields. The two activities differ significantly in terms of what they make and sell, as most generic drugs are relatively simple chemical compounds, while biosimilars are, like the biological therapies they are designed to replicate, the product of living cells. The central purpose and business challenge common to both is to make and distribute lower-cost and more affordable versions of brand-name therapeutics whose patent protection has expired.

Delta, Pharmaco and Actavis
In 1999, Wessman was appointed CEO of Delta, a small, financially troubled generic drug manufacturer based in Reykjavik. Following a merger with another Icelandic pharmaceutical company, Pharmaco, in 2002, the merged entity was rebranded as Actavis in 2004. Wessman's tenure at Activis was characterized by rapid growth and expansion into international markets through a series of acquisitions across Europe, in Asia, and the US. By 2004, the company had acquired 16 companies and had operations in 25 countries manufacturing and selling hundreds of products. In 2005, Actavis, traded on the Icelandic stock exchange, had a market capitalization of $1.9bn. In 2006, it acquired two US generics companies to enter the US market, subsequently acquiring additional manufacturing plants in the US, Russia, Romania and India. In 2008, when Wessman stepped down as CEO, Actavis had 11,000 employees and was one of the biggest generic drug companies in the world. Wessman's business strategy at Actavis was documented in a 2008 case study published by Harvard Business School.

Alvogen
In 2009, Wessman founded the biotechnology company Alvogen, essentially starting from scratch again in the generics business. With shrinking margins at conventional generics makers, Wessman saw opportunities in generics that were difficult to make, had uncoventional delivery mechanisms, and in underserved global markets, while the company would also explore the immminent market for biosimilars as the first biologics came off patent. Alvogen started by acquiring a distressed generics maker in New York, and R&D capabilities and product portfolios in New Jersey. Over the following five years, built on a string of acquisitions, Wessman expanded production, portfolio and marketing efforts focusing on Eastern Europe and South Asia, then acquiring major production sites in Taiwan and South Korea. By 2016, Alvogen, which has always been a private company, was estimated to be worth $4bn. Wessman's strategy in building Alvogen has been the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies.

Alvotech
In 2013, Wessman founded Alvotech, originally as a standalone minority-owned subsidiary of Alvogen. It was founded with a $250m investment to build its headquarters and manufacturing facility on the University of Iceland campus in central Reykjavik. Unlike Wessman's previous companies, however, Alvotech was focused exclusively on making biosimilars. The opportunity Wessman saw was that biologics, which have revolutionized the treatment of many diseases but are often very expensive, were becoming the biggest-selling therapeutics in the world and many blockbusters were going to lose patent protection by the 2020s. Market intelligence firm Frost and Sullivan estimates that the market for biosimilars will grow from $30bn in 2020 to $79bn in 2026. But successful biosimilars require highly specialized capabilities and many years to develop and approve, so the market has been dominated by biosimilars divisions of major pharmaceutical companies with the expertise and capital required. Alvotech's strategy to compete in this market has been to focus solely on biosimilar development and production, with vertically integrated capabilities, tight control over costs, and commercial partnerships to market its products around the world. At the end of 2021, Alvotech had seven biosimilars in development, the most advanced of which was a biosimilar for Humira, the world's biggest-selling drug, which has been approved for use in the EU. In December 2021 the company announced that it was entering a merger with Special-purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II in order to list on the Nasdaq stock market in 2022. Alvotech's press release on the merger stated that to date more than $1bn had been invested in its platform and capabilities, and the merger agreement valued the combined company at $2.25bn.

As a private company, Alvogen does not publicly list its shareholders, the source of curiosity and speculation in Iceland.

In 2018 Morgunblaðið published a report showing that one third of the Alvogen's share belonged to a private firm that Wessman had established on the offshore island of Jersey in 2015.

In March 2021 Wessman had been said to have replaced a number of middle tier managers within a short period of time. Soon after such reshuffling, one of Wessman's former colleagues at Alvotech made serious allegations in which he criticized Wessman's governance and misconduct while accusing him for abusive and bullying behavior over a period of years. In a statement to Bloomberg, the concerned executive alleged that he has "personally experienced and witnessed numerous instances of inappropriate behavior by Wessman" from 2010 till his last day in the company. Alvogen's board instructed to conduct an internal review and investigated Wessman's behavior and did not see any reason to take further action against him. In April 2021, Alvogen has sued the employee for alleged breach of confidentiality. The allegations against Wessman also included making death threats to his former colleagues, as an SMS chat thread between Wessman and one of his colleagues revealed Wessman making the comment "You are dead I promise". As such allegations came into the news, Alvogen's spokesperson apologised on Wessman’s behalf in June 2021.