12 March 2019 - - William Hodder has joined US-based biotechnology company Escient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as chief business officer, the company said.

Hodder brings more than 30 years of broad biopharmaceutical industry experience including business development, corporate strategy, product marketing, sales, fundraising and product development.

As a member of Escient's executive team, Hodder will report to the company's chief executive officer Alain Baron, M.D.

Launched in May 2018, Escient is focused on unleashing the therapeutic potential of specific orphan Mrgprs. Escient is initially pursuing therapies for neuro-immuno-inflammatory and autoreactive diseases.

The company is using proceeds from its USD40 m series A financing, syndicated by The Column Group and 5AM Ventures and joined by Osage University Partners, to build out its team, advance its pipeline, and progress its initial preclinical programs to clinical study.

Escient has made several other key hires since its launch, including Esther Martinborough, Ph.D., as vice president of Chemistry; Richard Pittner, Ph.D., as vice president of Biology, and Gregg Timony, MS, as Senior director of DMPK-Toxicology. Full biographies on these team members can be found here.

Prior to joining Escient, Hodder was most recently a corporate and business development consultant, advising multiple private and public biotech companies on partnering and fundraising matters.

Previously, he was senior vice president, Corporate Development at Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTGX), a clinical stage biotech company where he was responsible for all licensing and alliance management as well as certain fundraising and operations activities.

At Protagonist, Hodder led, or played a significant role in, licensing and fundraising transactions that raised over USD 220m including the licensing of a pre-clinical asset to Janssen Biotech for upfront and future milestone payments totaling USD 990m.

Prior to joining Protagonist, Hodder was a co-founder and CEO of Trenovus, Inc., a biotech company focused on developing novel inhibitors of heterotopic ossification present in several serious and rare conditions including Ankylosing Spondylitis and Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva.

Hodder also previously served as vice president of Business Development and Corporate officer at FibroGen, Inc., where he was responsible for all licensing and M and A activity, raising over USD 500m for the company.

This included the out-licensing of HIF prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors for anemia indications to Astellas for the European, South Africa and Middle East territories.

Prior to joining FibroGen, Hodder served as director of Business Development and Marketing at Aradigm, a drug delivery company. He has also held sales, marketing, and product development positions at Penederm (acquired by Mylan Laboratories), Ciba Geigy (now Novartis), Bristol-Myers Squibb company, and Marion Laboratories (now Sanofi).

Hodder received a B.S. in biology from Oakland University and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Escient Pharmaceuticals is a privately held biotechnology company that is advancing first-in-class G Protein-Coupled Receptor -targeted drugs to address serious, unserved medical needs across a range of therapeutic indications.

Focused on unleashing the therapeutic potential of specific orphan GPCRs, including the novel family of Mas-Related G-Protein Receptors (Mrgprs), Escient will initially pursue therapies for neuro-immuno-inflammatory and autoreactive diseases.

Based in San Diego, Calif., Escient is led by an experienced team of biotechnology entrepreneurs with specific expertise in GPCR drug discovery and development. The company is funded by top-tier life science investors, including The Column Group, 5AM Ventures and Osage University Partners.