Stephen Lowell Hurst

stephenlowellhurst.com
Stephen Lowell Hurst
Stephen Lowell Hurst
Stephen Lowell Hurst
Born1955
Oakland, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationB.S., University of California, Berkeley (1978)
J.D., Golden Gate University (1984)
Occupation(s)Businessman, venture capitalist, registered patent attorney
Known forCo-founding Definium Therapeutics (formerly MindMed); Pneumococcal AMC; 1864 Fund; HEAT Fire, Inc.
SpouseAntonia (m. 1995)
Children3

Stephen Lowell Hurst (born 1955) is an American businessman, registered patent attorney, and venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of Definium Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Mind Medicine (MindMed)) (NASDAQ: DFTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on psychedelic-derived therapies, and served on the Expert Committee convened by the GAVI Alliance and World Bank that selected the target disease for the Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a global health financing initiative that has delivered vaccines to hundreds of millions of children worldwide.

Contents [hide]
  1. Early life and education
  2. Career
    1. Early scientific research
    2. Biopharmaceutical industry
    3. Savant HWP
    4. Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment
    5. MindMed / Definium Therapeutics
    6. Venture capital and current activities
  3. Personal life
  4. Selected publications
  5. References

Early life and education

Hurst was born in 1955 in Oakland, California. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Conservation of Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978, and a Juris Doctor from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1984. He is a registered patent attorney.[1]

Career

Early scientific research

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hurst worked as a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Radiation Oncology. His published work during this period includes peer-reviewed studies on brachytherapy for brain tumors and the effects of radiosensitizers during radiation therapy.[2][3]

Biopharmaceutical industry

Hurst joined Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: INHL; subsequently renamed Nektar Therapeutics) in 1994 and served in progressively senior roles through 2002. His titles during this period, as documented in the company's annual SEC proxy statements (DEF 14A), included Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing (1997–1998), General Counsel and Secretary (1999–2001), and Vice President of Human Resources (2002). He appeared as a Named Executive Officer in six consecutive proxy filings from 1997 to 2002.[4][5]

During Hurst's tenure, the company raised substantial capital through public and private offerings. Major transactions documented in the company's SEC filings include the 1994 initial public offering (approximately $15 million net proceeds), a $40 million public offering in 1997, $230 million in convertible subordinated debentures in 1999, an additional $230 million in convertible notes in 2000, and a $40 million strategic equity investment from Enzon, Inc. in 2002. The company's 10-K annual report for fiscal year 2001 reported an aggregate non-affiliate market capitalization of approximately $704 million.[6][7]

Inhale's business model and technology platform during this period are documented in a Harvard Business School case study, "Inhale Therapeutics: Executing and Growing the Business Model" (Case 9-602-132), by Henry W. Chesbrough and Gillian Morris (2002).[8]

Hurst subsequently founded Sequential, Inc. and later served as Chief Business Officer for the Immune Tolerance Institute.

Savant HWP

From approximately 2011 to 2019, Hurst served as CEO of Savant HWP. At Savant, he oversaw development and testing of 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), a non-hallucinogenic ibogaine derivative being investigated as a treatment for opioid use disorder.[9]

Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment

The Advance Market Commitment (AMC) is a financing mechanism under which donors commit funds to guarantee the price of vaccines in order to incentivize manufacturers to develop and supply products for low-income countries. In 2005, G7 Ministers of Finance requested that the GAVI Alliance and World Bank convene an Expert Committee to advise on which vaccine-preventable disease would be most appropriate for an initial pilot AMC.[10][11]

Hurst, who from 2005 to 2009 served as a consultant to the World Bank and BIO Ventures for Global Health on AMC development,[12] was invited to serve on the Expert Committee as a biopharmaceutical industry expert.[10] The committee met in Paris on February 27–28, 2006, and comprised internationally recognized experts in public health, epidemiology, industrial economics, vaccine development, financing, and law.[11][13] The committee selected pneumococcal disease from among several candidate conditions, and its recommendations were forwarded to the G7 Deputies in preparation for the April 2006 G7 Finance Ministers' meeting.[11][14]

The Pneumococcal AMC was formally announced in February 2007 and launched in June 2009 with $1.5 billion in commitments from Canada, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, administered through the World Bank and GAVI.[15] As of 2023, the mechanism has delivered vaccines to over 438 million children and is estimated to have prevented approximately 1.2 million deaths in developing countries.[16]

MindMed / Definium Therapeutics

In May 2019, Hurst co-founded Mind Medicine, Inc. (MindMed) alongside Jamon Rahn.[17] The company initially focused on developing treatments for opioid withdrawal and use disorder using 18-MC, a non-hallucinogenic molecule based on the psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine, acquiring the drug development program previously funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.[17]

MindMed became the first psychedelic pharmaceutical company to go public, listing on the Canadian NEO Exchange on March 3, 2020 under the symbol NEO:MMED.[18] The company subsequently listed on NASDAQ under the ticker MNMD in April 2021.[19]

Hurst served as co-CEO until January 2021, and as a board director until his resignation in January 2022.[20] As of 2026, the company — rebranded as Definium Therapeutics in January 2026 — continues to develop psychedelic-inspired therapies. In March 2024, it received FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for its LSD-based compound MM120 for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.[21]

Venture capital and current activities

Hurst is a general partner at the 1864 Fund, a $10 million seed-stage venture capital fund managed by Granite Partners and affiliated with Nevada's StartUpNV ecosystem. The fund invests primarily in technology startups in underserved capital markets in the western United States.[22] He is also founder and CEO of HEAT Fire, Inc. (Hurst Engineered Advanced Technologies), which designs and manufactures interchangeable equipment sleds for converting standard pickup trucks into multi-purpose utility and firefighting vehicles. The company's patent pending system allows rapid mounting and demounting of equipment modules—including water tanks, pumps, hose reels, and other firefighting apparatus—without the use of cranes, forklifts, or other heavy machinery, enabling volunteer fire departments and rural communities to deploy functional firefighting capability from existing vehicles.[23]

Personal life

Hurst married Antonia in San Francisco in 1995. He has three children and resides in Nevada along the Truckee River. His son Robert, a veteran firefighter, is co-inventor on the HEAT Fire equipment sled patent.[23]

Selected publications

References

  1. "Day in the Life of a CEO — Stephen Hurst, Savant HWP." BioSpace. July 16, 2015.
  2. Gutin PH et al. "Permanent and removable implants for the brachytherapy of brain tumors." IJROBP. 1981. PMID: 6253607.
  3. Fu KK, Hurst S et al. "Effects of misonidazole during continuous low dose rate irradiation." Am J Clin Oncol. 1980. PMID: 6449588.
  4. Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. DEF 14A Proxy Statements, filed annually 1997–2002. SEC EDGAR, CIK 0000906709.
  5. "Day in the Life of a CEO." BioSpace. July 16, 2015.
  6. Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. Annual Reports on Form 10-K, 1994–2002. SEC EDGAR, CIK 0000906709.
  7. Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. Form 10-K, fiscal year ended December 31, 2001.
  8. Chesbrough, Henry W., and Gillian Morris. "Inhale Therapeutics: Executing and Growing the Business Model." Harvard Business School Case 602-132, 2002.
  9. Psychedelic Science Review. "Stephen Hurst."
  10. Letter from Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, Executive Secretary, GAVI Alliance, to Steve Hurst [January/February 2006].
  11. Letter from Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, Geoffrey Lamb, and Jean-Louis Sarbib to Steve Hurst. March 30, 2006. Reference GAVI/06/047/ra/clm.
  12. "Day in the Life of a CEO." BioSpace. July 16, 2015.
  13. GAVI. "About the Pneumococcal AMC."
  14. Cernuschi T et al. "Advance Market Commitment for Pneumococcal Vaccines." Bull World Health Organ. 2011;89:913–918. PMC 3260895.
  15. Cernuschi T et al. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2011. PMC 3260895.
  16. GAVI. "Pneumococcal vaccine support." Retrieved 2025.
  17. "MindMed Lists on NEO." BioSpace. March 4, 2020.
  18. "MindMed Lists on NEO." Business Wire. March 3, 2020.
  19. MindMed, Inc. SEC Form 8-K, filed April 27, 2021.
  20. MindMed, Inc. SEC Form 8-K, filed January 10, 2022.
  21. "FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to MindMed's MM120 for Generalized Anxiety Disorder." Fierce Biotech. March 2024.
  22. "New Nevada-Based Seed Stage Venture Capital Fund." Nevada Business Magazine. July 2025.
  23. International Patent Application WO2025/049678. PCT/US2024/044328. Filed August 29, 2024. Inventors: Stephen Lowell Hurst, Robert Ian Hurst.

This page was last edited on 5 March 2026.