John Crowley (businessman)

John Francis Crowley (born April 7, 1967) is an American businessman.

He served as the chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics.

He co-founded Novazyme Pharmaceuticals with William Canfield, which was later acquired by Genzyme Corporation, and founded Orexigen Therapeutics.

Crowley attended Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey, graduating with the class of 1985.

Crowley attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland from 1986 to 1987.

He went on to earn a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

He entered the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1989 and married his wife Aileen in 1990.

After receiving his J.D. degree from Notre Dame in 1992, he worked as a litigation associate in the Health Care Practice Group of the Indianapolis-based law firm of Bingham Summers Welsh & Spilman.

He went on to receive an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School in 1997 and then worked for a management consulting firm in San Francisco.

In 1998, two of Crowley's children, Megan and Patrick, were diagnosed with a severe neuromuscular disorder glycogen storage disease type II, also called Pompe disease.

In the face of the children's deteriorating health, the family moved to Princeton, New Jersey to be close to doctors specializing in the disease.

Crowley got a job at Bristol-Myers Squibb, immersing himself in health research.

He established a foundation to raise money for Pompe awareness and the family worked with non-profit organizations to fund Pompe research.

Crowley found that there were researchers in Europe as well as at Duke University, the University of Florida, and University of Oklahoma that were all working on Pompe, but were not communicating.

In March 2000, Crowley left Bristol-Myers Squibb and partnered with William Canfield to start Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology research company located in Oklahoma City.

Crowley became the company's CEO.

In 2001, Novazyme was acquired by Genzyme Corporation, then the world's third-largest biotechnology company.

Crowley, who became senior vice president, was in charge of Genzyme's global Pompe program, the largest R&D effort in the company's history, from September 2001 until December 2002.

In January 2003, Megan and Patrick Crowley received the enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease developed by Genzyme at St. Peters Hospital in New Brunswick.

The therapy, called Lumizyme, is given bi-weekly.

The enzyme replacement therapy reduced the size of the children's hearts and improved their muscle strength for a time.

The acquisition of Novazyme by Genzyme, and Crowley's fight to cure Pompe's Disease, was documented in the Harvard Business School Case Study, Novazyme: A Father's Love.

Crowley left Genzyme to ensure that his children would qualify for a drug developed by the company.

He then became founding president and CEO of Orexigen Therapeutics in 2003.

In 2004, he became a director at Amicus Therapeutics, based in Cranbury, New Jersey, and in January 2005, he was named the president and CEO of the company.

Amicus works to develop treatments for rare, devastating genetic disorders.

The company has a Pompe treatment in development, as well as Galafold (migalastat), which is for Fabry disease.

In 2006, he was profiled in the book The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million – And Bucked the Medical Establishment – In a Quest to Save His Children by Geeta Anand.

He completed a six-month tour of active duty at the Center for Naval Intelligence in Virginia in 2007.

He was assigned to a Navy Reserve unit at the United States Special Operations Command.

Crowley is a member of the 2009 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

In 2010, Crowley released his memoir, Chasing Miracles: The Crowley Family Journey of Strength, Hope, and Joy. Crowley and his family were the inspiration for the movie Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser in 2010.

Crowley was named CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the largest Biotechnology advocacy organization in the world, in 2023.

Crowley was raised in Englewood, New Jersey, the son of an Englewood police officer who died in an accident on duty when Crowley was eight years old.

His family has Irish and Italian Catholic roots.

Crowley's grandfather, John, was a first-generation immigrant from County Cork.

His mother worked as a secretary and a waitress.

The company's Fabry drug was approved for use in Europe in 2016.

The company also has a drug in late stage clinical development for epidermolysis bullosa (EB).

Crowley also served in the United States Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer.