George Mahaffey, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Mahaffey has 24 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industry experience. Most recently, he served as CEO of Peplin, Inc.
after the dermatology company’s acquisition by LEO Pharma A/S in
2009; he was instrumental in this $287.5M transaction. Prior to the
acquisition, he served as Peplin’s Chief Commercial Officer and VP,
Sales and Marketing. Mr. Mahaffey also served as Sr. VP, Sales and
Marketing for Cotherix, Inc. where he led the corporate
commercialization and successful launch of Ventavis® (iloprost), an
orphan drug to treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. He was heavily
involved in the acquisition of CoTherix by Actelion Ltd. for $420M
in 2007. Prior to CoTherix, Mr. Mahaffey worked at Scios, Inc.
(acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $2.4B in 2003) where he led the
launch of Natrecor® (nesiritide) to treat acutely decompensated
congestive heart failure that proved to be one of the most
successful launches of any acute care cardiovascular product to
date. Mr. Mahaffey also worked in various marketing functions at
Neurex, Inc. (acquired by Elan Corp. for $700M in 1998). He began
his pharmaceutical career at DuPont Pharmaceuticals where he held
various sales and marketing positions. Mr. Mahaffey earned a
Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the
University of Delaware and an MBA from the University of South
Florida. [Back to Management]
