Bill Gerhart

Mr. Gerhart is a biotech entrepreneur with a successful track record of developing important new medicines for patients with respiratory diseases. Prior to Respivant, Mr. Gerhart was a founder and the CEO of Patara Pharma from 2014 to 2018, which conducted the early development of Respivant’s RVT-1601. Prior to Patara, he was the President & CEO of Elevation Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego-based biotech he co-founded in 2008 that developed a new inhaled therapy for patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Elevation was acquired in 2012 by Sunovion, a subsidiary of Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, and in 2017 the FDA approved this new therapy, now marketed as Lonhala® Magnair® – the first nebulized LAMA for COPD patients. Prior to Elevation, Mr. Gerhart was the President and CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals from 2002 to 2007, a company he co-founded to discover and develop new antibacterials for the treatment of serious infections, including Quinsair®, an inhaled antibiotic now approved in Europe and Canada for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Mr. Gerhart is also the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BBA degree from Baylor University.