OUR PURPOSE PIONEERING SCIENCE PATIENTS OUR PEOPLE ENVIRONMENT COMMUNITY REPORTING 25 ENHANCING OUR STRATEGIC PORTFOLIO BIOGEN 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW FEATURE A Biogen employee, unexpected clinical trial participant and stroke survivor Almost 17 years ago, Kim Richard-O’Brien’s dad had a massive stroke. It was the middle of winter; he was 52 and living alone at the time. It was hours before he was found, well beyond the three- hour limit to receive thrombolytic Activase® (TPA), the only available treatment at the time. Though he made great strides in recovery, he had to move to a long-term care facility. With chilling similarity, that is how Kim’s story also starts. It was January, her husband was away for the week, and Kim’s morning started normally. She took her daughters out of their cribs, waiting for their nanny to arrive. She remembers squeezing the toothpaste tube when something quickly felt different. Then it went black. When the nanny arrived, she found Kim on the bathroom floor. Kim realized she couldn’t move anything on her left side. She was heavily slurring and couldn’t read her watch. Kim was rushed to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, a stroke center outside of Boston, and fewer than 15 minutes away. Neurologists quickly diagnosed an acute ischemic stroke. They recommended a clinical trial for moderate and severe strokes. Kim was randomized to the experimental arm, which means that not only did she get the standard of care but was also given TPA intra-arterially delivered directly to the clot, and then received endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), which used a medical device to try to remove the clot. Kim Richard-O’Brien is a stroke survivor and currently serves as Global Head of Scientific Partnerships. By the time Kim’s husband arrived, she could speak and move again. She underwent extensive testing and monitoring for cerebral edema in the intensive care unit, where countless clinicians stopped by to see with their own eyes the amazing result of “the 33-year-old who had the huge stroke.” Professionally, Kim feels fortunate to have spent the last three years playing a key role on Biogen’s stroke programs. She has attended several international stroke congresses and says it is both strange and emotional to see the data from the study she was in being presented by world-renowned stroke researchers. Coincidentally, it is through this work that she met the lead investigators who were instrumental in the clinical trial that saved her life. Less than 10 years separated Kim’s stroke from her dad’s, but their care – and clinical outcomes – are vastly different. She urges everyone to consider stroke symptom awareness and support for medical research to help future stroke patients.