Mahendra Shah

Dr. Shah is a highly successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur and executive who has been at Vivo Capital since March 2010. He is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Semnur Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Shah currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Essentialis Therapeutics, board member of Biotie Therapies (NASDAQ: BITI), and a member of the Board of Trustees of St. John’s University. From 2005 to 2009, Dr. Shah was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of NextWave Pharmaceuticals, which was sold to Pfizer for $700 million in upfront and milestone payments. From 1993 to 2003 he was Chairman and CEO of First Horizon Pharmaceuticals, where he raised > $200 million and built a highly profitable company before it was sold to Shionogi Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion. From 1991 to 1999, he was Vice President of E. J. Financial Enterprises, Inc. Previously Dr. Shah served on the Boards of Unimed Pharmaceuticals (UMED), Introgen Therapeutics (INGN), Inpharmakon, Protomed, Structural Bioinformatics, and Zarix. From 1987 to 1991 he was the Senior Director of New Business Development at Fujisawa USA (Astellas) and previously he worked in various scientific and management positions at Schering-Plough and Bristol Myers-Squibb.