Robert Duggan

Robert W. Duggan (born 1944) is an American billionaire entrepreneur and investor. He is the former CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pharmacyclics and was previously CEO of surgical systems maker Computer Motion from 1997 to 2003.

Robert Duggan was born in San Jose, California, in 1944; the third of five children. Duggan attended, but did not graduate from, the University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California, Los Angeles.

Sunset Designs

Duggan's first company, Sunset Designs, supplied Jiffy Stitchery kits to consumers - helping them create their own high-quality stitched projects at home. He invested $100k in Sunset Designs and earned a $15m return on that investment. More than 7,000 retail locations sold Jiffy Stitchery kits, giving the company an 80% market share.

Computer Motion (Intuitive Surgical)

Computer Motion (now Intuitive Surgical) develops surgical robotics aimed at improving patients' experiences by reducing the degree of invasion during surgery. The company worked to accomplish "patient and physician-friendly" robotic surgery - a term coined by Bob Duggan who led the company as Chairman from 1990 to 2003.

Pharmacyclics

Pharmacyclics is a pharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of cancer therapies. From 2008 to 2015, Duggan was the largest investor in as well as chairman and CEO of Pharmacyclics. Duggan received $3.5 billion from the sale of Pharmacyclics to AbbVie in "one of the biggest paydays ever from the buyout of a publicly held company." As CEO and chairman of Pharmacyclics from 2008 to 2015, Duggan had opted not to receive compensation from the company.

Pulse Biosciences

Since November 2017, Duggan has been chairman of Pulse Biosciences. As of February 2017, he owned a 15.4% stake in the company.

Summit Therapeutics

After having been a director since December 2019, in spring 2020 Duggan was appointed as CEO of Summit Therapeutics (a clinical-stage drug development company focused on new mechanism antibiotics). He is the company's leading shareholder and will serve as CEO without compensation. Summit is focused on developing ridinilazole, which is a potential new treatment for C. difficile.

Duggan is married, with eight children, and lives in Clearwater, Florida. He met his future wife, Patricia J. "Trish" Hagerty, when both were students at UCSB.

Duggan and his wife are members of the Church of Scientology. Duggan has been referred to as the church's "largest financial supporter" by former Scientology executive Mark Rathbun.