Page 22 - Delaware 222 - 2025

Hervé Hoppenot
Incyte
BIOPHARMACEUTICAL
Taking the helm of Incyte in 2014
after a career at pharmaceutical giant
Novartis, Hervé Hoppenot has led the
Wilmington-based drug development
company to new heights. Building
upon Incyte’s billion-dollar drug
Jakafi , Hoppenot has overseen Incyte’s
move into the dermatological sector,
developing Opzelura, the fi rst drug
approved to treat vitiligo. With that
success, Incyte is investing heavily
to grow its product development
in dermatology and autoimmunity,
with plans to address other more
rare disorders. Th e company’s
annual revenue has grown nearly
600% since Hoppenot took over,
and it has invested heavily in its
Delaware headquarters, adding staff
and facilities, with plans to move its
headquarters to Wilmington’s central
business district.
ALMA MATER:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Eric Kmiec
CorriXR Therapeutics
As one of the nation’s foremost
researchers on the gene-editing
technology known as CRISPR for the
last three decades, Eric Kmiec has
brought attention to Delaware from
the wider biopharmaceutical industry.
Th e former University of Delaware
professor partnered in 2015 with the
state’s largest health care system,
ChristianaCare, to launch the Gene
Editing Institute to further research
into the potential to overcome drug
resistance in solid tumors. Its programs
for treating cancers of the lung, head
and neck, and esophageal cancer are
now advancing through the U.S. Food
& Drug Administration approval
process toward the clinic. In 2022, he
spun out some of the institute’s most
promising work in a new startup,
CorriXR Th erapeutics, that could be a
major job creator of the future.
ALMA MATERS:
Q&A:
20 DELAWARE 222 | DelawareBusinessTimes.com
20 DELAWARE 222 | DelawareBusinessTimes.com
Vance Kershner
LabWare
A former DuPont scientist, Vance
Kershner left to found LabWare in
1987, developing a software to better
streamline workfl ow and track lab
processes. Today, it is claimed that
a product that has been aff ected by
LabWare is always within 6 feet of
us – ranging from medicines to foods,
gas to chemicals. More than 1 billion
samples go through LabWare software
each year from 2,500 customers in
125 countries. With the success of
LabWare, Kershner has become
increasingly involved in a variety of
other pursuits, including co-founding
the venture capital fi rm Leading Edge
Ventures, operating Wilmington-
area restaurants Buckley’s Tavern
and Goober’s Diner, and developing
overseas resorts in the British Virgin
Islands and South Africa.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Kelvin Lee
NIIMBL & University of
Delaware
When the University of Delaware
looked to host the creation of the
National Institute for Innovation in
Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals
(NIIMBL), a federally designated
accelerator for work in
biopharmaceutical manufacturing,
it turned to former Delaware
Biotechnology Institute Director Kelvin
Lee. Since taking the helm of NIIMBL
in 2017, Lee has led the private-public
organization to new heights, raising
hundreds of millions in funding to
advance projects that build upon
lessons learned during the COVID-19
pandemic. Th e presence of NIIMBL
has raised the profi le of Delaware and
UD in the biopharmaceutical industry,
helping to attract new economic
development. Earlier this year, work
started at the future SABRE Center,
that will work as a manufacturing
plant test bed.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A: