Primary Job Title Member of the Board of Directors Primary Organization 
ESSA Pharma
Location New York, New York, United States Regions Greater New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US Gender Male
Investor Type Number of Exits
LinkedIn View on LinkedIn
Franklin Berger has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2010. Franklin Berger is a consultant to biotechnology industry participants, including major biopharmaceutical firms, mid-capitalization biotechnology companies, specialist asset managers and venture capital companies, providing business development, strategic
advisory, financing, partnering, and royalty acquisition advice.
Franklin Berger is also a biotechnology industry analyst with over 25 years of experience in capital markets and financial analysis. Franklin Berger worked at Sectoral Asset Management as a founder of the small-cap focused NEMO Fund from 2007 through June 2008.
From May 1998 to March 2003, he served at J.P. Morgan Securities, most recently as Managing Director, Equity Research and Senior Biotechnology Analyst. In this position, he initiated coverage of 26 biotechnology companies and was responsible for technical, scientific and clinical due diligence as well as company selection.
Franklin began his career as a sell-side analyst at Josephthal & Co. in 1991, subsequently moving to Salomon Smith Barney in 1997 serving as Director, Equity Research and Senior Biotechnology Analyst.
Franklin currently serves on the board of directors of three biotechnology companies: Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., Immune Design Corp. and Bellus Health, Inc. Previous public company board service included 11 years with Seattle Genetics, Inc., 7 years with VaxGen, Inc. and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (previously Isotechnika Pharma Inc.), based in Canada.
He also serves or has served on biotech company boards of directors including iTherX Pharma, Inc., Caprion Proteomics Inc. and ViroChem Pharma, Inc. (purchased by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $400 million in 2009). Franklin has led multiple M&A analyses resulting in greater than $1 billion in transaction value..
Franklin received a B.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in International Economics both from Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
