
Role: Mentor
Tracks: Life Sciences
Navneet Puri
Founder & Board Member, Nevakar, Inc.
Dr. Puri is a pharmaceutical scientist by education with over 25 years of life science industry experience. He founded Nevakar, Inc. in 2015 with a vision of improving patients’ quality of life and healthcare outcomes in hospital and ophthalmology segments. Nevakar was further split into two separate companies, including Nevakar Injectables Inc and Vyluma Inc. Prior to Nevakar, Dr Puri spent several years in product development and drug delivery of parenteral pharmaceuticals at Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Amgen Inc. He founded InnoPharma, Inc. in 2005, focusing on development of hospital injectable products. Following the acquisition of InnoPharma by Pfizer in 2014, he stayed on as Vice President of Pfizer’s Worldwide Research & Development and President of InnoPharma until 2015. Dr. Puri received Future 50 magazine’s Smart CEO award in 2015. He was also awarded the EY Entrepreneur of The Year award from the state of NJ in 2015. Dr Puri’s past board positions include InnoPharma, Eyenuk, Xeris Pharmaceuticals and BioNJ. His current board positions include Nevakar, Alzeca Biosciences, [Chair] Rutgers Health Leadership Council, [Advisory Board] TiE NJ, [Advisory Board] New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and [Advisory Board] Tech Council Ventures. Dr. Puri earned a BS in Pharmacy from University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (India), MS from the University of Mississippi and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from Rutgers University.