Titre : Inhalation Drug Discovery Meets NMR in the Membrane

Endroit: Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, Salle G-715

Hôte : Prof. Shawn Collins

Current Position: Director within ‘Global Discovery Chemistry’ at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), with responsibility for the Neuroscience medicinal chemistry portfolio, encompassing Neurodegenerative (e.g. Alzheimer’s & Parkinson ’s disease) and Psychiatric disorders (e.g. Schizophrenia, Depression, Epilepsy). Yes, Novartis is still committed to these big areas!

I studied chemistry and graduated with a bachelor’s degree at the University of Liverpool in 1996 and a PhD in 2001 at the University of Cambridge, UK, under the supervision of Professor Steven V Ley working on the total synthesis of Spongistatin.

I conducted the first ever synthesis of the Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor IRESSATM, the first EGFR inhibitor marketed for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer, whilst at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca!). I then moved to GlaxoSmithKline where I contributed to a large number of drug discovery projects delivering clinical candidates in the pain and neuroscience disease areas, including selective prostaglandin receptor antagonists and agonists, gamma secretase modulators and glycine transporter inhibitors.

In 2010, I moved to Novartis in the UK, where I led a number of respiratory projects including an inhaled prostacyclin receptor agonist for pulmonary arterial hypertension, which has entered human clinical trials (and the topic of today’s presentation). In 2014, I moved to the Novartis site in Cambridge, Massachusetts, supporting the Neuroscience Disease Area, contributing to a wide portfolio, for example leading the discovery of a novel rapidly acting antidepressant that is currently undergoing clinical trials in a patient proof of concept study.