Senior Management Team
Michael Narachi
President and Chief Executive Officer
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 Chairman of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Narachi received a B.S. degree in Biology and an M.A. degree in Biology and 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.
Mark Booth
Chief Commercial Officer
Mr. Booth joined the Orexigen management team in August, 2009 as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Booth brings over 25 years of commercial and business development experience to Orexigen. Most recently, Mr. Booth served as President of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (TPNA) where he presided over the commercial, medical and scientific affairs, business development and all support functions. Under his leadership TPNA became one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. with sales of over $4 billion. Over the course of his career Mr. Booth has played an integral role in numerous co-development/co-promotional partnerships including Prevacid®, Enbrel® and Actos® which all achieved multi-billion dollar sales status. Prior to his role at TPNA, Mr. Booth served as Senior Vice President, General Manager at Immunex Corporation where he was responsible for the sales, marketing and project management functions. Before joining Immunex Corporation, Mr. Booth was at Abbott Laboratories where he served in a range of leadership positions including Division Vice President, General Manager for the $1 billion anti-infective franchise. Mr. Booth holds a BS in Biology from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Heather D. Turner
Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
Ms. Turner joined the Orexigen management team in July 2007 as Vice President, General Council & Secretary. For the previous two years she worked first as Corporate Counsel and most recently as Associate General Counsel at Conor Medsystems, LLC (previously Conor Medsystems, Inc.), in Menlo Park, CA, a company specializing in drug-eluting stents. From 1999 until 2005, she was an associate at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP (formerly Cooley Godward LLP), a national law firm, where she advised public and private companies, investors and board members. At both Conor Medsystems and Cooley Godward she advised on matters ranging from public reporting, public offerings, securities law compliance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, board and committee duties and other general corporate matters. Ms. Turner has a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law.
Jay Hagan
Chief Business Officer
Mr. Hagan joined Orexigen as our Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Strategy and Communications in May 2009 and in February 2011 was also appointed acting Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Orexigen, Jay was a Partner at Groundswell Advisors, a biotechnology consulting firm, providing guidance and operational execution in corporate strategy, commercialization, financing and partnership opportunities. While at Groundswell Advisors, he served as acting chief executive officer of Unity Pharma, consulted to numerous small biotech companies, and served on the board of directors of Seredigm Corp. Prior to establishing Groundswell, Jay spent ten years at Amgen Inc. where he served in various senior business development roles, including founder and Managing Director of Amgen Ventures, and earlier as head of Corporate Development. His track record includes such notable completed transactions as the acquisitions of Immunex and Tularik as well as numerous other business development efforts totaling over $15 billion in value. Before joining Amgen, Jay spent five years in the bioengineering labs at Genzyme and Advanced Tissue Sciences. He received a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. at Northeastern University.
Preston Klassen, M.D., M.H.S.
Senior Vice President/Head, Global Development
Dr. Klassen joined the Orexigen management team in November 2009. Prior to joining Orexigen, Dr. Klassen was the Therapeutic Area Head for Nephrology and Executive Medical Director at Amgen where he led global development efforts for the company’s renal franchise. While at Amgen, Dr. Klassen oversaw Phase 2-4 clinical activity for products addressing renal, diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Dr. Klassen’s experience includes global regulatory filings, including NDA and sNDA submissions, development and execution of several large cardiovascular outcomes trials, and oversight of clinical commercialization activities for multiple marketed products, including EPOGEN®, Aranesp®, and Sensipar®. Dr. Klassen played a lead role in regulatory interactions related to the benefit/risk profile of erythropoietin stimulating agents for renal indications, including presenting at a 2007 joint meeting of the FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committees. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Klassen was a faculty member in the Division of Nephrology at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. Dr Klassen received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine, fellowship in Nephrology, and M.H.S. degree at Duke University.
Dawn Viveash, M.D.
Senior Vice President/Head, Global Quality, Regulatory Affairs and Safety
Dr. Viveash joined the Orexigen Management team in November 2009. Dr. Viveash has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, across all stages of development and product commercialization. Prior to joining Orexigen, Dr. Viveash was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety, at Amylin Pharmaceuticals where she managed regulatory affairs and the safety department for a product portfolio that included the company's obesity and diabetes pipeline. Prior to her role at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Viveash was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Safety at Amgen and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Safety and Professional Services at Immunex. While serving in leadership roles at Amylin, Amgen and Immunex, Dr. Viveash has overseen a number of successful NDA and BLA submissions along with corresponding global regulatory submissions; her experience includes products such as Enbrel®, Aranesp®, Sensipar®, Kepivance® and Byetta®. Dr.Viveash has participated on behalf of sponsors in several FDA Advisory Committees and has been involved in regulatory discussions regarding a variety of post marketing safety issues. Dr. Viveash holds a B. Pharmacy First Class, London School of Pharmacy, England, a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.), University College Hospital, London, UK.
Suzanne McDonald
Vice President, Government Affairs and Managed Markets
Suzanne McDonald has worked with Orexigen since November 2009. Previously, Ms. McDonald was employed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America (TPNA) from December 2003 to September 2009. Her most recent position was Vice President of Government and External Affairs. She also held the positions of VP Managed Markets and Director of State Government Affairs. Ms. McDonald’s previous roles include Division Vice President and General Manager of Managed Care at Abbott Laboratories. Ms. McDonald holds a B.S., Biology, from LeMoyne College, a M.T. (ASCP) from St. Mary’s Hospital and graduated from the Women’s Sr. Leadership Program, Kellogg School of Management. She is a current Board member of the Chicago chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, and board committee member for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Grand Chefs Gala.