The business behind the philanthropy.

A breakthrough in cancer treatment

Trish Duggan and her former husband, the venture investor Bob Duggan, were major shareholders in Pharmacyclics — the biopharmaceutical company that developed Imbruvica (ibrutinib), a first-in-class treatment for blood cancers such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma. Bob Duggan led the company as chairman and chief executive, taking the drug from early development all the way through to FDA approval.

Few medicines have moved that fast. Imbruvica earned three of the FDA's Breakthrough Therapy designations — a distinction very few drugs receive — and is prescribed today in dozens of countries. In 2015, AbbVie bought Pharmacyclics for roughly $21 billion, one of the largest biotechnology acquisitions ever made.

A track record across industries

Pharmacyclics was not a one-off.

Years earlier, Bob, Trish, and her sister Nancy grew Paradise Bakery into a chain of around 40 locations before selling it to Chart House in 1987.

She and Bob were early shareholders in Intuitive Surgical, the company that pioneered robotic-assisted surgery. They were also investors in their son’s company, Metropolis Media, later acquired by the JCDecaux Group.

What the success pays for

Trish has never been especially interested in business for its own sake. What the returns make possible is the point — all the philanthropic work around the world, including Imagine Museum and her support of the studio glass movement. She is also committed to a wide range of humanitarian activities including human rights education, drug awareness and prevention, spiritual enlightenment, civics education and other initiatives intended to strengthen individuals and communities.

As she sees it, artists and entrepreneurs are doing much the same thing: using creative thinking to build something that wasn't there before.