Tarak D. Mody, PhD

Tarak D. Mody, PhD serves the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) as the Chief Business Officer. At PICI, Dr. Mody leads corporate business development, working with the team to continue to foster strong strategic alliances and partnerships.

Dr. Mody brings to PICI 28 years of professional experience from the biopharmaceutical industry. He last served as Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management at Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company that focused on developing immuno-oncology and targeted therapies for patients with cancer. During his 8 years at Five Prime, Dr. Mody forged several strategic Oncology partnerships, notably with Bristol Myers Squibb, Seattle Genetics, and Zai Lab. Most recently, Dr. Mody led the global partnering process on the breakthrough gastric cancer product, bemarituzumab (anti-FGFR2b targeted antibody), culminating in the $1.9 billion acquisition of Five Prime by Amgen, Inc.

Prior to Five Prime, Dr. Mody spent 20 years at Pharmacyclics, Inc. (an AbbVie company). He was a founding member of the original scientific team in 1993, where he led the Synthetic Chemistry/CMC Team before transitioning into business development in 2002. During his early tenure in business development, he was instrumental in building the pipeline through a multi-asset acquisition from Celera Genomics in 2006, which included ibrutinib (BTK inhibitor). From 2006-2013, he headed Business Development & Intellectual Property fostering numerous large pharma partnerships. Most notably, he orchestrated the ~$1 billion transformative global alliance with J&J/Janssen Biotech on the breakthrough product, ibrutinib (IMBRUVICA®), a first-in-class BTK inhibitor now approved for several blood cancers. Dr. Mody is co-inventor on over 100 issued US and international patents.

Dr. Mody received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in May 1993, under the direction of National Academy of Sciences Professor Jonathan L. Sessler. Dr. Mody’s doctoral work on the novel class of compounds “texaphyrins” was the original genesis for the formation of Pharmacyclics, Inc. He received his Bachelor’s in Chemistry with a Minor in Mathematics from Villanova University in 1988.