David Arkowitz

Board Member at Kineta

Speaker

David Arkowitz has more than 30 years of finance, operations, business development and commercial leadership experience in the life sciences and biotech industries. He has raised over $1.5 billion, in total, from equity and debt financings, business development transactions and government funding. In addition to his track record in leading finance functions and operations, Mr. Arkowitz has extensive business development and commercial experience, having been involved in, and in some cases leading, the commercial launches of five products during his biotech tenure.

Mr. Arkowitz served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Development of Seres Therapeutics from June 2021 until his retirement in March 2024. Previously, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Flexion Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that was acquired by Pacira Biosciences, from May 2018 to May 2021. From September 2013 to May 2018, Mr. Arkowitz served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Visterra, a biotechnology company that was acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. He also previously served as Chief Financial Officer at each of Mascoma, AMAG Pharmaceuticals and Idenix Pharmaceuticals and held additional leadership positions within each company. Preceding his tenure at Idenix, Mr. Arkowitz spent more than 13 years at Merck & Co., Inc. where he held roles of increasing responsibility, including Vice President and Controller of the U.S. pharmaceutical business, Controller of the global research and development division, and the Chief Financial Officer of Merck’s Canadian subsidiary.

Mr. Arkowitz currently serves on the board of directors of Kineta and has previously served on the boards of directors of F-star Therapeutics (where he was audit committee chair), Yumanity Therapeutics, Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals (where he was audit committee chair), Proteostasis Therapeutics, Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (where he was audit committee chair), and ImpactRx (where he was audit committee chair). He obtained his B.A. in mathematics at Brandeis University and his M.B.A. in finance at Columbia University Business School.