Joshua Schafer

Joshua Schafer has served as Zevra’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development since January 2023. He brings to Zevra over 25 years of pharmaceutical commercial, new product development and merger and acquisition (M&A) experience.

Mr. Schafer previously served as General Manager of the Autoimmune and Rare Disease business at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, and prior to that, he served as Chief Strategy and Business Officer. During his professional career, he has successfully led over $16 billion in aggregate M&A transactions. Prior to Mallinckrodt, Mr. Schafer served as Vice President and Oncology Therapeutic Area Head, Global Marketing and Strategy at Astellas Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for building the company’s global oncology franchise, and also held senior roles at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting), G. D. Searle & Co. (later acquired by Pfizer) and Cognia Corporation. Mr. Schafer currently serves as a Board member of Pharnext SA and Shuttle Pharmaceuticals. He received his B.A. in Biology and German at the University of Notre Dame, and both an M.S. in Biotechnology and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.