Synopsis:

Eric Dobmeier is the President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and commercializing precision medicines for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases. Eric discusses how his early years as a lawyer working in-house as general counsel for Seattle Genetics (now Seagen), ultimately led him to running his own biotech company. He talks about the landscape of kidney disease, the current unmet need, what opportunities he sees in the space, and the growing interest in kidney disease amongst big pharma. He also discusses the progress Chinook has made over the last several years, particularly the three clinical stage programs they currently have, and what’s ahead for the company.

Biography:

Eric is President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics. Previously, he was President and CEO of Silverback Therapeutics, a Seattle-based biotechnology company in the immuno-oncology space. Prior to that, he spent more than 15 years at Seattle Genetics, most recently as Chief Operating Officer, where he oversaw business development, corporate communications, manufacturing, program/alliance management activities and corporate strategy initiatives. While at Seattle Genetics, Eric was also directly involved in raising more than $1.2 billion in equity capital, and led negotiation and completion of multiple corporate alliances with leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Earlier in his career, he represented technology companies in connection with public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate partnering transactions. Eric has a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley School of Law and an undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He is also a director of Atara Biotherapeutics and Structure Therapeutics.