David Socks is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Mountainfield Venture Partners. He has been a serial biopharma entrepreneur for nearly 25 years during which time he has co-founded more than 15 venture-backed companies, leading to eight FDA approved drug products and six NASDAQ IPOs. Many of these companies were formed by in-licensing development-stage drug candidates from pharma companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Takeda, and others.
Prior to Mountainfield, David was a Venture Partner with Frazier Life Sciences. In that capacity, he co-founded Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), HilleVax (NASDAQ: HLVX), Passage Bio (NASDAQ: PASG), Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT), and others. David served as CEO of Phathom through its 2019 IPO and was CFO and CBO of HilleVax through its 2022 IPO. He continues to serve on the board of Phathom.
Prior to Frazier, David co-founded Incline Therapeutics (sold to The Medicines Company) and served as its President and COO. He also co-founded Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CADX; sold to Mallinckrodt) and served as its Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy. Previously, he was a Venture Partner with Windamere Venture Partners, where he co-founded multiple additional life sciences companies.
David also served as Chairman of Eleusis (sold to Beckley Psytech) and was an early advisor to Prometheus Biosciences (sold to Merck), PvP Biologics (sold to Takeda), and Mineralys (NASDAQ: MLYS). He holds a B.S. from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.