SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB)
December 11, 2019
Verge Genomics, a drug discovery company developing therapies for neurological diseases by integrating a unique all-in-human genomic platform with machine learning, announced today the appointment of two industry leaders to its scientific advisory board. The new members are Thomas Large, PhD, currently CEO and Co-founder of Blue Oak Pharmaceuticals and formerly of Sunovion and Eli Lilly, and James Summers, PhD, formerly Vice President of Neuroscience Research at AbbVie.
“We are excited to welcome these accomplished industry veterans with expertise in discovering and developing therapies to treat neurological diseases to Verge’s advisory board” said Alice Zhang, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verge Genomics. “Drs Large and Summers’ collective experience will be invaluable as we advance our highly promising drug candidates for ALS and Parkinson’s disease toward the clinic.”
Thomas Large, PhD
Dr. Large brings more than 20 years of drug discovery, research and translational medicine experience to Verge’s scientific board. Currently, he is CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Oak Pharmaceuticals, a start-up integrating systems neurobiology, chemistry and informatics to discover drugs with new mechanisms of action for brain disorders.
Previously, Dr. Large was Senior Vice President, Preclinical Research and Translational Medicine at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Under his leadership, the group pioneered a target-agnostic approach for CNS drugs, delivering multiple programs now in clinical development including SEP-363856 for schizophrenia, which was recently designated an FDA Breakthrough Therapy. Prior to Sunovion, Dr. Large was a scientific and group leader at Eli Lilly in neuroscience research, where he led projects that resulted in therapeutic candidates for anxiety, psychosis and pain. During his tenure at Eli Lilly, Dr. Large also managed a group developing innovative approaches for drug targets in the CNS, endocrine and oncology therapeutic areas.
Dr. Large holds a PhD in neurobiology and physiology from Northwestern University and completed a Howard Hughes postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Large previously served as a faculty member of the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University Medical School.
James Summers, PhD
Dr. Summers brings over 30 years of drug discovery and pharmaceutical research management experience to Verge’s scientific advisory board. Previously, he was Vice President of Neuroscience Research at AbbVie, where he led efforts focused on the discovery of new treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, pain, and psychiatric disorders. Under his leadership, his teams advanced more than twenty compounds into development. He established new research sites in Cambridge, MA and Shanghai, China, was an architect of several strategies that defined the future direction of Abbvie’s global research organizations, and championed multiple successful out-licensing deals, biotech collaborations and venture investments. He currently serves on the board of directors and as an advisor to several biotechnology companies.
Dr. Summers earned his Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude, in chemistry from Denison University and his doctorate in organic chemistry from Harvard University.
About Verge Genomics
Verge is focused on developing therapeutics for neurological diseases using human genomics to accelerate drug discovery. Verge has created a proprietary all-in-human platform, generating one of the field’s largest and most comprehensive databases of ALS and Parkinson’s Disease patient genomic data. The Company is led by experienced computational biologists and drug developers who are successfully advancing therapeutic programs in ALS and Parkinson’s disease toward the clinic. For additional information, please visit http://www.vergegenomics.com.
Contacts
for Verge Genomics
Shannon Stone, PhD
415-854-5500
shannon@vergegenomics.com
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