Board of Directors
Michael Narachi
President and Chief Executive Officer
Orexigen
Mr. Narachi joined the Orexigen management team as President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2009. Michael has over 24 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience across a broad range of functions including clinical development, commercialization, strategic business development and planning. Prior to joining Orexigen, Narachi served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Ren Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private biotechnology company and Executive Chairman of the Board of Naryx Pharma, Inc., a private pharmaceutical company. In 2004, Narachi retired as an officer and Vice President and General Manager of Amgen's Anemia Business. Throughout his 20 years at Amgen, Narachi held various positions including: Product Development Team Leader for NEUPOGEN® Director of Clinical Operations in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Cambridge, U.K.; Vice President of Development and Representative Director for Amgen Japan; Head of Corporate Strategic Planning; Chief Operations Officer of Amgen BioPharma; and Vice President, Licensing and Business Development. He is also a director of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Narachi received B.S. and M.A. degrees in Molecular Genetics from the University of California at Davis. He also received an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles.
Eckard Weber, M.D.
Chairman
Domain Associates, Partner
Dr. Weber is a partner at Domain Associates where he creates companies around promising new pharmaceutical products. He has been founding CEO of multiple biopharmaceutical companies in the Domain portfolio including Cytovia, Acea, Novacea, NovaCardia, Novalar, Orexigen, Domain Antibacterial Acquisition Corporation, Ascenta, Ocera, Syndax, Tragara, Tobira, Sonexa and Calixa. He currently serves as interim CEO of Sonexa and Calixa, two seed-stage biopharmaceutical companies. He is Chairman of the Board at NovaCardia, Orexigen, Ocera, Ascenta, Tobira and Syndax. He was Chairman of Peninsula until its sale to Johnson & Johnson in 2005, Chairman of Cerexa until its sale to Forest Laboratories in January 2007, and a Board member of Conforma and Cabrellis until their sales to Biogen-IDEC and Pharmion, respectively. In addition, he is a board member of DiObex and BioVascular, Inc. Until 1995, Mr. Weber was a tenured Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California at Irvine. He has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience and has been a consultant to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 40 patents and patent applications, and he has published over 130 papers in scientific periodicals.
Louis C. Bock
Scale Venture Partners
Mr. Bock has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2005. Mr. Bock is a Managing Director of Scale Venture Partners, a venture capital firm. He joined Scale Venture Partners in September 1997 from Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where he held positions in research, project management, business development and sales from September 1989 to September 1997. Prior to Gilead, he was a research associate at Genentech, Inc. from November 1987 to September 1989. He currently serves as a director of Ascenta Therapeutics, diaDexus Inc., SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Horizon Therapeutics and Zogenix, Inc. and is responsible for Scale Venture Partners’ investments in Prestwick Pharmaceuticals and Somaxon Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Bock received his B.S. in Biology from California State University, Chico and an M.B.A. from California State University, San Francisco.
Brian H. Dovey
Domain Associates, Partner
Mr. Dovey has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2004. Mr. Dovey is a managing member of Domain Associates, L.L.C., a private venture capital management firm focused on life sciences, and has served in this capacity with the firm since 1988. He has served as chairman of three companies and on the board of directors of approximately 30 additional companies, including Align Technology, Inc. and Cardiac Science, Inc. Mr. Dovey currently serves on the board of Neose Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded company. Prior to joining Domain, Mr. Dovey spent six years at Rorer Group, Inc. (now Aventis), including as president from 1986 to 1988. Previously, he was president of Survival Technology, Inc., a start-up medical products company. He also held management positions with Howmedica, Inc., Howmet Corporation, and New York Telephone. Mr. Dovey has served as both president and chairman of the National Venture Capital Association. He is Chair of the Wistar Institute, a non-profit preclinical biomedical research company. Mr. Dovey is also Co-Dean of the Kauffman Fellows Program at the Center for Venture Education. Mr. Dovey received his B.A. from Colgate University and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.
Joseph S. Lacob
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Partner
Mr. Lacob has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2004. Since 1987, Mr. Lacob has been a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm. He serves on the board of directors of Align Technology, Inc, as well as several privately held companies, including Ophthonix, Inc., AutoTrader.com LLC and TherOx, Inc. Mr. Lacob holds a B.S. in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine, a Master's in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Michael F. Powell, Ph.D.
Sofinnova Ventures, Managing General Partner
Dr. Powell has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2004. Dr. Powell has been a Managing Partner of Sofinnova Ventures, a venture capital firm, since 1997. He was Group Leader of Drug Delivery at Genentech, from 1990 to 1997. From 1987 to 1990, he was the Director of Product Development for Cytel Corporation, a biotechnology firm. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas and an editorial board member of several pharmaceutical journals. Dr. Powell has served on several public boards, as well as several private companies, including: Ocera Therapeutics, Ascenta Therapeutics, Catalyst BioSciences, Trius Therapeutics, and Intellikine. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and completed his post-doctorate work at the University of California.
Daniel K. Turner III
Montreux Equity Partners
Mr. Turner has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2005. Mr. Turner is a General Partner of Montreux Equity Partners, a position he has held since February 1993. He has 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, operating manager and venture capitalist. Prior to Montreux, Mr. Turner managed the Turnaround Group for Berkeley International. Previously, Mr. Turner was the founding Chief Financial Officer of Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused in dermatology, which merged with Watson Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Turner started his career with Price Waterhouse. He currently serves as a director of Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc, as well as several private companies. Mr. Turner holds a B.S. degree from Sacramento State University (magna cum laude) and attended the MBA program at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has established the Turner Fellowship. Mr. Turner is a Certified Public Accountant.
Patrick Mahaffy
Clovis Oncology, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Mahaffy has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2009. Mr. Mahaffy was a co-founder of Pharmion and served as President and Chief Executive Officer from its inception in 1999 until 2008, when the company was acquired by Celgene Corporation. While at Pharmion, Mr. Mahaffy was credited for taking the company public and developing a successful oncology franchise, with four products on the market, including Vidaza, the world’s first approved epigenic drug. Prior to co-founding Pharmion, Mr. Mahaffy was President and Chief Executive Officer of NeXagen, Inc. and its successor, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He was credited for taking NeXagen public in 1994, and acquiring Vestar in 1995. Under his leadership, the company developed corporate partnerships with Eli Lilly and Co., Systemix/Sandoz, Schering AG and Becton Dickinson and Co. Prior to joining Nexagen, Mr. Mahaffy was with E.M. Warburg Pincus and Co., serving in a number of roles, most recently as Vice President. Mr. Mahaffy was a founder and currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Clovis Oncology, Inc., a company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing innovative anti-cancer agents in the U.S., Europe and additional international markets. Mahaffy received a B.A. from Lewis and Clark College and an M.A. from Columbia University School of International Affairs.
Peter K. Honig, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Honig has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2010. In December 2009 Dr. Honig retired from Merck & Company where he served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Regulatory Affairs and Product Safety since January 2003. From March 2002 to January 2003 Dr. Honig was Merck’s Vice President, Worldwide Product Safety and Quality Assurance. Prior to Merck, from 1993 to 2002 Dr. Honig held various positions at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) including Director of the Office of Drug Safety in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Dr. Honig received his B.A., in History from Columbia College of Columbia University, his M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons and his MPH from Columbia University School of Public Health.
Wendy Dixon, Ph.D.
Dr. Dixon has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2010. Dr. Dixon brings 30 years of pharmaceutical development and commercial experience to the Orexigen board. This experience includes commercialization strategy, new product launches and portfolio evaluation in cardiometabolic and primary care markets with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS), Merck, and SmithKline & French (now a part of GlaxoSmithKline). Most recently, she was the President of Global Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at BMS Company. Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Dixon held executive management positions at Merck, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Marketing. Dr. Dixon has also held executive management positions with Osteotech and Centocor and various positions at SmithKline in marketing, regulatory affairs and project management. In addition to the Orexigen board, Dr. Dixon has been a director of Furiex Pharmaceuticals since February 2010 and joined Incyte’s Board of Directors in 2010.