More Than the Sum of Their Parts

Gilead’s approach to global procurement reflects its mission to make our world healthier

Relentless innovation has been Gilead Sciences’ focus for over 35 years. In that time, they have pursued treatments in areas of great unmet medical need and have dedicated themselves to transforming care for people living with HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, cancer, and inflammatory diseases as well as other conditions. Their mission is to create a healthier world for all people.

Founded in 1987, the company has made life-changing advancements in HIV management and prevention. They have applied the same scientific approach to their development of treatment options for hepatitis B, and their curative medicines for hepatitis C. They are endeavoring to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health problem by 2030.

In oncology, Gilead is investigating novel therapies in more than 20 indications. Their growth vision in the sector is to become one of the 10 leading oncology companies in the world by 2030. Their inflammation portfolio is also growing, thanks to clinical trials in conditions like chronic inflammation and fibrosis. Gilead boasts one of the most diversified and robust pipelines across its therapeutic areas, with 54 programs underway across all phases of drug development.

It’s no surprise that the same relentless innovation is at the heart of sweeping changes in their global procurement group.

Since Gilead has 48 affiliates globally serving patients and healthcare providers, the company’s Procurement group works with business partners across the world. The Procurement organization falls under the Corporate Operations organization — which includes Corporate Engineering & Facilities, Corporate Security and Environmental Sustainability functions. The Procurement team partners with their colleagues within those groups, as well as other functions that include Research & Development, IT, Commercial, and Finance.

As executive director for the category management and business partnering functions within the global Procurement organization, Angela Robinson aligns the team’s strategies and priorities with enterprise business outcomes. “Our team is the face and voice of procurement with leadership. We work to understand the business needs, ensuring that those needs align with the business strategy and partnering closely with our strategic suppliers to curate solutions for our business,” she explained.

With that enterprise mindset, the team acts as a bridge across all the company’s functions and the regions in which they operate. “There’s a lot of power in sharing what is happening across the enterprise, it can be as simple as getting the right people together for a conversation,” she added.

“We need to understand the business priorities and the outcomes well enough to provide guidance around procurement solutions for the business. We’ve made a number of changes in our function and it’s been game-changing to have folks in the organization that understand the business, understand the discipline of procurement and have deep expertise in category strategy. It’s allowed us to drive greater impact across the organization.”

The Procurement organization’s global transformation has been underway for several years, as the complexity of drug development processes and the number of patients they serve continues to grow. What was once a largely transactional approach to procurement is being centralized into a collaboration rooted in deep partner relationships.

As Robinson pointed out, “We are only as successful as our suppliers are because they’re essential to Gilead’s success. We want to win together.” When it comes to alignment, great attention is given to ensuring that partners mirror the company’s values. “Cost is certainly an important element, but it’s about driving better outcomes for our business and for our patients.”

Global Procurement works with the company’s supply chain organizations to create strategies that ensure the company’s medicines get to patients is as swiftly as possible. “We collaborate with many teams, including supply chain, for critical strategies around logistics and lab equipment to ensure our research facilities have the right equipment at the right time. These collaborations are paramount to ensure accuracy and quality of our partners so that our patients receive the medicine they need in the time they need it.”

A sense of common purpose and humanity is the heartbeat of the company. A true openness to inventive and evocative ideas translates to an environment of constant change, not only in the labs and the factory floors but throughout every facet of the company.

“Procurement is a critical corporate function that is often misunderstood,” Robinson mused. “What makes it real, effective and impactful is the people and alignment to the purpose. When you’re at a company like Gilead, we all have that connection and that purpose.”

The organization’s talent bench is kept advancing by a cohort of new hires carefully matched to their roles as well as tenured Gilead employees with rich experience to help drive them to success. “There’s a great mix of folks within our organization that help create this amazing culture,” she said, noting that the complexity of their science informs that culture of understanding who the company is, what they do, and how they get to their goals.

Change management is essential for procurement, dependent on several different factors, such as the extent of the change and who is impacted by it. “You need a plan, you need executive sponsorship from the business, and you must identify folks that can help you rally around that change. Otherwise, it’s just not going to happen,” she said.

Negotiation prowess and process improvements are essential, and their success relies significantly on change management. “It’s really about explaining why this is important to Gilead and ultimately our patients, and that’s not always an easy thing to distill. There are 25 different processes for the same activity across the world,” she said. “It’s our job to unravel the chaos, make sure there are standards in place and that’s what makes this job fun. The goal is to make things easier for our colleagues at Gilead and not be in the way of their success.”

Robinson’s perspective on partnerships extends whether it’s inside or outside the company. “Collaboration and partnerships are essential for a company to drive effective operations. Having a deeper understanding of how the business runs across the world and having folks who have expertise in specific areas is where the magic happens. These capabilities are found both inside and outside of Gilead. This is where procurement should live, acting as that bridge to drive impact across the organization, for our business and our patients – it’s a pretty cool place to be!”

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Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, cancer and inflammation. Gilead operates in more than 35 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.

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