William P. Forbes

Bill Forbes joined the Board of Hallux on November 1st, 2018 and brings to the Company over 25 years of executive leadership and drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, Bill is the Founder & President, CEO of Vivelix Pharmaceuticals, a venture backed clinical stage company focused on bringing new, innovative therapies for GI disorders to market.

Prior to founding Vivelix, Bill served as President, Medical, Research & Development and Chief Development Officer of Salix Pharmaceuticals until its sale to Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2015.

As a corporate officer and head of Medical and R&D his responsibilities included areas of corporate communication, governance, compliance, planning, operations, strategy and management. During his tenure at Salix, Bill successfully guided 12 FDA approvals which contributed to the tremendous increase in value of the company over this time with a market capitalization of ~$500 M in 2005 to ~$11 B when it was acquired in April 2015.

Prior to Salix, Bill served as Vice President of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs of Metabasis (2002-2004) and in increasing positions of responsibility at Otsuka (1991-2002) and Glaxo (1989-1991).

During his diverse career, Bill has contributed to the approval of numerous marketing applications by health authorities including sNDAs and NDAs for: XIFAXAN550® (HE in CLD 2010, IBS 2015), RELISTOR® (Subcutaneous, OIC 2014; Oral, OIC 2016), RUCONEST® (HAE 2015), UCERIS® RECTAL FOAM (Distal UC 2015), FULYZAQ® (HIV-associated Diarrhea, 2012), GIAZO® (Acute UC, 2012), METOZOLV ODT® (Gastroparesis, 2009), APRISO® (Maintenance of Remission in UC, 2008), OSMOPREP® and MOVIPREP® (Bowel cleansing for colonoscopy, both 2006), COLAZAL® (Pediatric use in Acute UC, 2005), PLETAL® (Intermittent Claudication in PAD, 1999).

Bill received his Doctor of Pharmacy at Creighton University in 1987 and did post-doctoral fellowships at Creighton’s School of Medicine and Glaxo, Inc (1987-1989). As an experienced researcher, Bill has authored or co-authored over 48 published manuscripts.