Michael D. Step

Michael D. Step is the Chief Executive Officer of Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Ritter, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Santarus, Inc., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Step served in this role for nine years up until the 2014 sale of Santarus to Salix. He was responsible for leading all licensing and M&A activities at Santarus, and was a member of its executive team. Prior to his tenure at Santarus, Mr. Step held various commercial and business development roles at Amylin Pharmaceuticals for five years, culminating in the role of Vice President of Corporate Development, and was responsible for leading Amylin’s license of Byetta to Eli Lilly. Before joining Amylin, Mr. Step was Senior Director of Business Development at Dura Pharmaceuticals, and served in licensing, management and sales roles at Hoffmann-La Roche and Syntex Labs. Mr. Step has an MBA in marketing and finance from the USC Marshall School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University.