He was the founder and chairman and chief executive officer of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for 25 years, starting in 1991 and became advisor to the board in 2016.
[3] He led the development of Remicade® (infliximab), formerly known as Centara, a drug for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, ReoPro® (abciximab), formerly known as CentoRx, a drug for the prevention of ischemic complications in patients with CAD undergoing percutaneous interventions,[4][5] and the cancer diagnostic test, CA125, to evaluate patients with ovarian cancer.
[9][2] In 1992, ARIAD raised $46 million, the largest single round of financing for a startup in the biotechnology industry at the time.
[11][12] In 2000, Berger focused ARIAD on oncology, based on recent discoveries in the human genome.
[13] Under Berger's leadership, ARIAD grew to over 365 U.S. employees and established a European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
[2] During his time at Emory, Berger led a program for developing cardiovascular single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) imaging, supported by General Electric Medical Systems.
[27] He and other colleagues at Emory collaborated on the development of new quantitative techniques for cardiac SPECT imaging.
The award recognizes success in innovation, financial performance, personal commitment to their business communities and other areas.