ABOUT US
Welcome to NGM Bio
We are a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a robust pipeline of drug candidates to address a spectrum of large, unmet medical needs. We are focused on harnessing powerful, untapped biology underlying major diseases to develop transformative therapeutics for patients.
We are intensely science-driven and committed to having a profound impact on addressing some of today’s most urgent medical needs.

We are leveraging our biology-centric drug discovery approach to uncover novel mechanisms of action and generate proprietary insights that will enable us to move rapidly into proof-of-concept studies and deliver first-in-class medicines. We aspire to operate one of the most productive research and development engines in the biopharmaceutical industry, with multiple programs already in clinical development. Our initial areas of focus include cardio-metabolic, liver, oncologic and ophthalmic diseases. But we are not limited to the therapeutic areas we can explore. We intend to continue growing our pipeline of experimental medicines and building our proficiency in discovery research.
Our Team
Our management team, scientists, board members and advisors have extensive track records of successfully discovering, developing and delivering to patients multiple, class-defining drugs with meaningful clinical and commercial impact, which positions us well to maximize the potential of our drug discovery approach.
William J. Rieflin
Executive Chairman
David J. Woodhouse, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Jin-Long Chen, Ph.D.
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Alex DePaoli, M.D.
Senior Vice President, Chief Translational Officer
Marc Learned, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research Operations
Hsiao D. Lieu, M.D.
Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
Siobhan Nolan Mangini
Chief Financial Officer
Brian Muma
Vice President, Human Resources
Valerie Pierce
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Wenyan (David) Shen, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Biologics and CMC
Hui Tian, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research
Board of Directors
William J. Rieflin
Executive Chairman, NGM Biopharmaceuticals
David V. Goeddel, Ph.D.
Managing Partner, The Column Group
Jin-Long Chen, Ph.D.
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, NGM Biopharmaceuticals
Shelly Guyer
Chief Financial Officer, Invitae Corporation
Carole Ho, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer & Head of Development, Denali Therapeutics
Suzanne Sawochka Hooper
Former Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Mark Leschly
Managing Partner, RHO Capital Partners
David Schnell, M.D.
Managing Director, Prospect Venture Partners
McHenry (Mac) T. Tichenor, Jr.
Managing Partner, Tichenor Ventures, LLC
David J. Woodhouse, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer, NGM Biopharmaceuticals
Scientific Advisory Board
Michael S. Brown, M.D.
Chairman
Michael Fischbach, Ph.D.
Joseph L. Goldstein, M.D.
Robert D. Schreiber, Ph.D.
NGM-Merck Collaboration
NGM and Merck have an ongoing broad, multi-year strategic collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize novel biologic therapies across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Per the original agreement, announced in February 2015, Merck made a $94 million upfront payment to NGM and purchased $106 million of NGM’s preferred stock. In addition, Merck committed up to $250 million to fund NGM’s research and development efforts under the initial five-year term of the collaboration, with the potential for additional funding if certain conditions are met.
In March 2019, the companies announced that Merck exercised its option, under the terms of the original agreement, to extend the initial five-year research and early development phase of the collaboration for an additional two-year period from March 2020 to March 2022. During the two-year extension period, Merck will continue to fund NGM’s research and development efforts at similar levels to the original collaboration terms and will make additional payments totaling up to $20 million in support of NGM’s research and development activities in 2021 and 2022. Merck retains one additional two-year extension option that is exercisable in March 2021, which would extend the collaboration from March 2022 to March 2024.
Advancing programs through development
Merck has a one-time option to license all resulting collaboration programs following human proof of concept trials. Upon exercising such options, Merck will lead global product development and commercialization for the resulting products, if approved. Prior to Merck initiating a Phase 3 study for a licensed program, NGM may elect to either receive milestone and royalty payments or, in certain cases, to co-fund development and participate in a global cost and revenue share arrangement of up to 50%. The agreement also provides NGM with the option to participate in the co-promotion of any co-funded program in the United States.
NGM’s fibroblast growth factor 19, or FGF19, program, including aldafermin (formerly NGM282), is excluded from the agreement and remains wholly owned by NGM.
The collaboration’s productivity in action
NGM and Merck announced in January 2019 that Merck exercised its option to license NGM313, an investigational monoclonal antibody agonist of the β-Klotho/FGFR1c receptor complex for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) discovered by NGM. Merck’s one-time option to license NGM313 (now renamed MK-3655) was triggered by NGM’s completion of a proof-of-concept clinical study of NGM313. Merck initiated a Phase 2b study for MK-3655 to evaluate the effect of MK-3655 on liver histology and glucose control in NASH patients with or without diabetes.
