Mahendra G. Shah

Mahendra G. Shah, Ph.D. is a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and executive who has been at healthcare investment firm, Vivo Capital, since March 2010. He is also the founder and executive chairman of Semnur Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Shah currently serves on the boards of Homology Medicines Inc. (NASDAQ: FIXX) and Soleno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SLNO), and is a member of the board of trustees of St. John’s University. Dr. Shah is also a board member and charter member of EPPIC and a charter member of TIE.

From 2005 to 2009, he was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of NextWave Pharmaceuticals, a pediatric focused specialty pharmaceutical company, which was sold to Pfizer for a total of $700 million in upfront and milestone payments. From 1993 to 2003 he was the chairman and chief executive officer of First Horizon Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company, where he raised over $200 million and built a highly profitable company before it was sold to Shionogi Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion. Prior to that, he held positions with E. J. Financial Enterprises, which manages a fund that invests in healthcare companies and with Fujisawa USA (Astellas), and before that, he worked in various scientific and management positions with Schering-Plough and Bristol Myers-Squibb. He previously served on the boards of Unimed Pharmaceuticals (UMED), Introgen Therapeutics (INGN), Inpharmakon, Protomed, Structural Bioinformatics, and Zarix. Dr. Shah received his Ph.D. in industrial pharmacy from St. John’s University and his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Pharmacy from L.M. College of Pharmacy in Gujarat, India.