About Us

Brian has over 25 years of investing, business development, operational and R&D experience in both biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies. He currently has independent board roles as the chairman of the board of eFFECTOR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: EFTR) and a non-executive director of Slate Bio.

Prior to co-founding Trekk, Brian was a Partner and Head of the Boston office at Abingworth, a transatlantic venture capital firm from 2018-2022, where he led investments in and was on the boards of Q32 Bio and eFFECTOR. Prior to Abingworth, Brian was a Partner at SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from 2010-2018, where he led investments in and was on the boards of Aileron Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALRN), Calcimedica, Constellation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Morphosys), Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novo Nordisk), Navitor Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Supernus and JNJ), Nimbus Therapeutics (Apollo subsidiary acquired by Gilead), Princeps Therapeutics, River Vision (acquired by Horizon Pharma), Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SPRO), SpringLeaf Therapeutics, Translate Bio (acquired by Sanofi) and others.

Prior to SR One, Brian led Corporate Development at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals from 2008-2010 where he was responsible for business and corporate development, business operations and post-merger integration following the company’s $720M acquisition by GSK in 2008. Prior to Sirtris, Brian held key roles in operations and R&D at Alantos Pharmaceuticals from 2005 until its acquisition by Amgen for $300M in 2007.  Brian started his career as a medicinal chemist and group leader at the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai from 1998-2005, where he started and led multiple drug discovery programs in Oncology and Immunology.

Brian holds PhD and MS degrees in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, where he was a Shapiro scholar. He is an inventor on over 25 patents and applications and is the senior author of a number of publications in prominent journals. He currently serves on the Investment Board for University of Michigan Biomedical Venture Fund (MBVF), and the Advisory Board for Michigan Drug Discovery.  Brian was previously on the Advisory Boards of NYU Medical School’s Therapeutic Alliances and the National Brain Tumor Society, was a mentor for NVCA Corporate VC Mentorship Program and MassBio’s MassCONNECT entrepreneur mentorship program, and has been a peer reviewer/editorial board member for numerous scientific journals and scientific research funding authorities.

Vikas has been working in the biotech industry for 20 years, with a particular focus on corporate strategy, capital formation, corporate partnerships, and M&A for early stage therapeutics companies. 

Prior to co-founding Trekk, Vikas was Senior Vice President of Business Development for Pandion Therapeutics. He initially joined Pandion as a Board member and investor in 2018, then joined the company full-time in 2019 taking the company through a research collaboration with Astellas, an IPO, and the company’s acquisition by Merck for $1.85 billion in 2021. Prior to Pandion, Vikas worked as an investor at SR One. During his time at SR One, Vikas invested in and served on the boards of 19 early stage biotech companies including Morphic Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MORF), River Vision Development (acquired by Horizon), Nimbus Therapeutics, Turning Point (acquired by BMS), Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SPRO) and Pandion (acquired by Merck). River Vision and Horizon developed Tepezza™ (teprotumumab) a new standard of care in the treatment of Grave’s Orbitopathy and the first therapy ever approved for the indication.

Previously, Vikas was a Consultant at McKinsey & Co’s Pharmaceutical practice in New Jersey, a co-founder of Extera Partners, and a Business Development Manager at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. He is a member of the Kauffman Fellows Society (Class 17). Vikas earned an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Neurobiology from Harvard University. 

Vikas truly believes that partnerships can be critical to the successful development of new medicines. In his free time, he hosts an interview series on the Timmerman Report with biotech business development executives about the deals they have worked on and lessons learned.

Stephen has been in the biotech industry since 1987, having roles in drug discovery, drug development, senior management, fund-raising, M&A/corporate partnerships and capital formation through equity/debt/royalty monetization offerings.

Prior to co-founding Trekk, Steve was most recently a consultant and board member to a number of private and public biotech companies.  From 2017-2019 he was President & CEO of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARPO), where he joined after working as a Senior Advisor to PDL Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDLI) doing debt and royalty transactions from 2014 - 2017.  Before PDL he was a Managing Director with Skyline Ventures from 2007 – 2014 where he led, co-led or managed equity investments in 9 companies.  He joined Skyline from TVM Capital, a Munich-Boston based venture fund where he led, co-led or managed equity investments in 8 companies.

Prior to getting into venture capital, Steve was the founding CEO of Allos Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTH) from 1994 to 2003, and remained on as Chairman until its acquisition in 2012.  Allos developed products to treat cancer and cardiovascular disease, including FolotynTM which was approved by the FDA for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma in 2009.  Before Allos, Steve was the scientific founder of Somatogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMTG) that was ultimately acquired by Baxter Pharmaceuticals in 1998.

Steve was trained as a bio-organic chemist, obtaining a PhD degree from Northwestern University in 1981, followed by a degree in medicine from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1986.  He did an internship in surgery, followed by a residency in dermatology, where he became Board Certified.