Early Life and Career

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Baum has worked to align his professional interests with his personal values.  Mr. Baum grew up in Houston, Texas, graduating from Sharpstown High School.  In 1999, after graduating from university and law school, and passing the California Bar Exam, Mr. Baum started YesRx, an online pharmacy business serving HIV-positive Californians. Through the success of YesRx, Mr. Baum capitalized his first investment fund and began a 10-year period managing capital as a principal investor, participating in more than 200 equity and debt transactions.

Harrow

In 2011, Mr. Baum founded Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiary ImprimisRx in order to provide patients and physicians with access to innovative prescription medicines at affordable prices. A multi-part Harvard Business School case (Case A, Case B, Case C, Case D) abstracts many of Mr. Baum's early decisions in developing the ImprimisRx business model, which has evolved to include both branded and compounded products. In December 2018, ImprimisRx’s parent, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, changed its name to Harrow Health, and in 2023, the company name was shorted to Harrow (NASDAQ: HROW). As of 2023, Harrow owns one of the broadest portfolios of ophthalmic pharmaceutical products and is one of the fastest-growing ophthalmic pharmaceutical companies in the United States. Mr. Baum is currently the Chairman and CEO of Harrow.

Entrepreneurship

From 2015-2017, Mr. Baum was a senior advisor to privately held Curology.com.

In 2017, Mr. Baum founded Eton Pharmaceuticals, and in November of 2018, Eton completed an IPO on NASDAQ Capital Markets (NASDAQ: ETON). Mr. Baum served as a member of the Eton board of directors from inception until Q4 2020.

In 2017, Mr. Baum founded Surface Pharmaceuticals, and in May of 2018, Mr. Baum announced a $20M Series A equity financing transaction for Surface Pharmaceuticals. In 2021, Surface Ophthalmics (f/k/a Surface Pharmaceuticals) completed a $25M Series A-1 equity financing. Mr. Baum was a Surface Ophthalmics board of directors member until Q1 2023. 

In 2018, Mr. Baum founded Melt Pharmaceuticals, and in February 2019, Mr. Baum announced an $11M Series A financing for Melt Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Baum is the chairman of the Melt Pharmaceuticals board of directors.

In 2019, Mr. Baum founded Visionology.com, a direct-to-consumer eye health platform in order to provide Americans with on-demand access to an eye care professional, services to better detect and monitor eye disease, and access to prescription medications conveniently delivered to the patient’s home.

Drug Pricing Policy Advocacy

When Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired the infectious disease drug Daraprim® and raised its price more than 5,000%, Mr. Baum quickly led his team to develop a $.99 per pill compounded alternative. His actions and advocacy were featured in television (including, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, CNN Money, Fox Business, CBS, Bloomberg, ABC News, and Al Jazeera America) and print media (including, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, USA Today, Reuters, Fortune, Forbes, Business Insider, US News, and World Report, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Gay San Diego, The Ophthalmologist, Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, and Fierce Pharma).

In 2016, Mr. Baum wrote a monograph on U.S. drug pricing policy, and an Op-Ed piece on the same issue was published in the Wall Street Journal.  Later that year, Mr. Baum was invited to Oxford University to debate James Greenwood, head of BIO, the largest international pharmaceutical lobbying group. Mr. Baum’s presentation in favor of the proposition, Big Pharma Prioritizes Profits Over Patients, won by one of the largest margins in the Oxford Union's nearly 200-year history.

In 2017, Mr. Baum authored another Wall Street Journal Op-Ed piece on drug pricing, including proposed solutions to create competition for prescription drugs. 

Through Cataract Surgeons for Improved Eyecare (CSIE), Mr. Baum worked with Grammy-award-winning singer, music legend, and celebrity-patient Dionne Warwick, to advocate in Washington, DC, for patient and physician access to affordable medications. The success of this advocacy was reflected in September 2019 clarifications to CMS policy toward access to ImprimisRx’s Dropless Cataract Surgery medications.

Awards and Honors

In 2016, Harrow Health (formerly Imprimis Pharmaceuticals) was named the 4th fastest-growing pharma/biotech and the 12th overall fastest-growing U.S. company according to Deloitte’s 2016 Technology Fast 500™ Ranking of the fastest-growing companies in North America.

In May 2017, Mr. Baum was honored to give the College of Liberal Arts commencement address at the University of Texas at Arlington, his alma mater (BA, cum laude, 1995). 

In June 2017, Mr. Baum was named Entrepreneur of the Year™ for the San Diego region life sciences category by Ernst & Young LLP. 

In 2018, Harrow Health (formerly Imprimis Pharmaceuticals) was ranked by Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500™ as the 88th fastest-growing company in North America.

Mr. Baum served on the University of Texas at Arlington President's Advisory Board until Q4 2021.