Mr. Morris has over 30 years of professional finance and accounting experience, 19 as Chief Financial Officer.  He has raised over $980 million  in equity and convertible securities for six companies.  He has extensive deal experience with over 65 transactions and combined value in excess of $2.0 billion.  He has served as the Chief Financial Officer of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals since 2014 and assumed the responsibilities as Head of Business development in 2015. AcelRx is a publically traded specialty pharmaceutical company with two late stage products for acute pain.  One of the products, Zalviso has launched in the EU and is being sold by Grunenthal.  Mr. Morris completed a $65 million royalty monetization for the European royalty stream from Zalviso.  Previously, Mr. Morris served as a Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President Finance and Global Corporate Development of VIVUS, Inc. from November 2004 to December 2013. At VIVUS Mr. Morris oversaw finance, corporate development, IT, human resources, legal, and investor relations functions. During his tenure at VIVUS he was part of the executive team that oversaw the approval of two NDA and one MAA.  Prior to VIVUS, Mr. Morris was CFO, Senior Vice President Finance, Manufacturing and Administration from September 2001 to November 2004, and was a member of the Office of the President from August 2004 to November 2004 for Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, acquisition, and marketing of pharmaceutical products. Mr. Morris serves as a non-executive director of PAION Inc, the US subsidiary of PAION AG, a publically traded company based in Germany.  Mr. Morris graduated cum laude with a BS in Business with emphasis in Accounting from California State University, Chico, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

He has had experience in the following therapeutic areas:

-pain

-acute care products

-infectious disease

-metabolic disorders

-male and female sexual function