Rob Hopfner, RPh, PhD, MBA joined Pivotal in 2017 and brings a long track record of working successfully with entrepreneurs to get novel, important medicines through development and onto the market. Rob brings a broad range of venture investing experience, from early /seed stage company building through later stage private and public investing. Past and current investments include Aciex Therapeutics (sold to Nicox S.A.), Arcutis Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ARQT), Civitas Therapeutics (sold to Acorda Therapeutics), Dermira (sold to Lilly), Exscientia (sold to Recursion), Gracell (Sold to AZ), Hyperion Therapeutics (sold to Horizon Pharma), Inozyme (sold to Biomarin), Karuna Therapeutics (sold to BMS), Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MDGL), Merus BV (NASDAQ: MRUS), NextWave Pharmaceuticals (sold to Pfizer), Oculis (NASDAQ: OCS), Protez Pharmaceuticals (sold to Novartis), Vaxcyte (NASDAQ: PCVX), Vtesse (sold to Sucampo Pharmaceuticals), and Zymogenetics (sold to BMS). Rob is currently a member of the Boards of Directors of Evommune, Plexium, Rallybio (NASDAQ: RYLB), and LAND Therapeutics, and was previously on the Board of Vaxcyte and Oculis. Rob was an early investor in several now successful companies including Dermira, Madrigal, Merus, and Oculis. Rob was previously a Managing Director at Bay City Capital and prior to that worked in DuPont / Merck Pharmaceuticals’ Business Development & Strategy group. Rob holds an RPh in Pharmacy and PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Saskatchewan and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He completed his post–doctoral work at Harvard Medical School. Rob won numerous awards during his research career, including the Governor General of Canada Gold Medal Award. Rob started his career as a pharmacist.
