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 O'Day, now head of Roche's pharmaceuticals business, joined the
company in 1987 and held various roles in the United States before
moving in 1998 to headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
O'Day's hiring comes about four months after Gilead said in July
that Chief Executive John Milligan and Chairman John Martin would
step down at the end of the year.
Jefferies analysts said in a note that O'Day's three decades of
oncology and global commercial expertise at Roche should help Gilead
build out its own global presence, particularly in new areas it is
entering including oncology and inflammation as well as through more
acquisitions and in-licensing deals.
At Roche, O'Day was a champion of bi-specific antibodies that are
under development as a potentially less expensive, less complicated
alternative to CAR-T therapy where T cells must be taken out of the
body, re-engineered and re-infused.
With Gilead's Yescarta therapy, O'Day is now on the opposite side of
the divide.
Separately, Roche said William Anderson, current CEO of its
Genentech business, would replace O'Day next year.
Anderson joined Roche in 2006, leading the immunology business unit
in Genentech, and then took charge of oncology sales and marketing.
In 2013, he became head of global product strategy based in Basel
before assuming his current role at Genentech in 2017.
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Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider called Anderson a "seasoned Roche
manager" who played a key role in leading multiple sclerosis drug
Ocrevus to success and driving double-digit growth in the U.S.
market.
Gilead said on Monday that Martin would step down from the company's
board of directors, effective March 1, 2019.
Up to Friday's close, the company's shares have fallen nearly 14
percent since Milligan and Martin's departures were announced by
Gilead in July.
The Wall street Journal first reported O'Day's hiring on Sunday.
Gilead said its board had appointed Gregg Alton as interim chief
executive for the period of January 1, 2019 until O'Day's start date
of March 1, 2019.
Roche shares were down 0.6 percent by mid-morning, in line with the
Stoxx European health care sector index.
(Reporting by Liana Baker in New York; Additional reporting by
Ismail Shakil and Philip George in Bengaluru and by John Miller and
Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Sunil Nair and Mark Potter)
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