Jaisim Shah

Chief Executive Officer & President

Jaisim Shah has over 30 years industry success in leading product development & commercializing innovative therapies and creating companies with documented success in development and commercialization of some of today’s most recognized pharmaceutical brands.

He is a seasoned life science executive and board director with extensive accomplishments at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche, PDL Biopharma, Sorrento, Pfizer/Upjohn, Scilex, and start-ups Elevation and Semnur Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Shah has been CEO and President of Semnur Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Scilex Pharmaceuticals) since its inception in 2013. He has served as CEO and President of Scilex Holding and Scilex Pharmaceuticals since March 2019 and also serves on the board of directors of Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. and Scilex Holding.

Most recently, Mr. Shah served as Chief Business Officer of Elevation Pharmaceuticals where he focused on financing, mergers and acquisitions, and business development. He led the sale of Elevation to Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in 2012. At Facet Biotech and PDL BioPharma, he served from 2000 to 2009 as Chief Business Officer and also held the position of senior vice president of marketing and medical affairs.

During this time, he completed numerous licensing/partnering and strategic transactions including with Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Otsuka, and Biogen Idec. His leadership in marketing and leading the commercial enterprise helped the company make large improvements to meet its profitability potential.

At Bristol-Myers Squibb, as vice president of global marketing from 1997 to 2000, Mr. Shah received the “Presidents Award” for completing one of the most significant collaborations in the company’s history.

Prior to working with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Shah led international marketing for oncology and virology and was global business leader for corporate alliances at Roche from 1991 to 1997 with Genentech and IDEC, and prepared products for worldwide launch and pre-launch at F. Hoffman-La Roche AG in Switzerland.

He has played a key role in the formulation of long-range plans and pre-launch and launch strategies for such brands as Abilify®, Pegasys®, and Rituxan/MabThera®, each of which have generated well over $1 billion in sales. Mr. Shah holds a M.A. in Economics from the University of Akron and a M.B.A. from University of Oklahoma.