Scott Thacher

Founded Orphagen in 2001. He has 30 years of experience in life sciences research and pharmaceutical R&D. Scott led Orphagen to its first partnership in 2008 with JT Pharma and created first-in-class discovery programs for two other orphan nuclear receptors, steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) and ROR-beta. Scott has been awarded 15 SBIR and other grants to support drug discovery at Orphagen.

Prior to founding Orphagen, Scott directed programs in acne, psoriasis, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes at Allergan, focusing on nuclear receptor-based therapeutics, served on management teams for strategic collaborations in dermatology and diabetes, and supported the successful NDA filing for Tazorac® (tazarotene), a topical retinoid for psoriasis and acne. He is author on 30 publications in cell biology and pharmacology, including the discovery of transglutaminase type 1 (TGase1). Scott was previously on the biochemistry faculty at the Texas A&M College of Medicine (1986-1993) and holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University and a B.S. in physics (Stanford). Scott is also a co-founder of Io Therapeutics and co-founder and first President of the San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange.