Founders

Jürg Pfister, PhD

Jürg Pfister, PhD has over 35 years of drug discovery and preclinical development experience in both major pharmaceutical and biotechnology start-up companies. He was formerly a Senior Research Fellow for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor program at Comentis. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Aryx Therapeutics, where he was a co-inventor of two new molecular entities that entered human clinical trials, the anticoagulant tecarfarin and the gastric prokinetic agent naronapride. Before that, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Roche Bioscience, leading a team of medicinal chemists in the Urology Therapeutic Area. Prior to that, he was the Director of Medicinal Chemistry and later the Director of Chemical Process Development at CV Therapeutics, where he was a co-inventor of two clinical stage adenosine receptor ligands, tecadenoson and naxiphylline. Before that, he held several research positions at Syntex where he was instrumental to the discovery of several new molecular entities that reached human clinical trials, including the anti-asthma agent tixanox and the congestive heart failure agent lixazinone. He was also the inventor of the potent third-generation multidrug resistance modulator zosuquidar which was licensed to Eli Lilly.

Dr. Pfister received a PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and pursued postdoctoral studies at Syntex Research. He is an inventor on 78 U.S. patents and patent applications.

Xiaoming Zhang, PhD

Xiaoming Zhang, PhD has 16 years of drug discovery and preclinical development experience. He was formerly Senior Director of Chemistry at CoMentis Inc. In this capacity, he led the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist program, which is currently in preclinical development for AD and cognitive deficit associated with schizophrenia. Previously, Dr. Zhang served as Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Portola and ARYx, where he successfully led the discovery and preclinical development of a number of new molecular entities, notably PRT060128 (elinogrel) and tecarfarin. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zhang was a research scientist at Roche Bioscience and later program leader in the Urology Therapeutic Area, where he successfully led the alpha1 adrenergic agonist backup program, culminating in the discovery of R1484 which reached Phase I for stress incontinence.

Dr. Zhang received a PhD from University of Maryland in the field of synthetic organic chemistry and pursued postdoctoral research at University of California, Berkeley. He is an inventor on 23 US patents and patent applications.

M. (Venkat) Venkatraman, PhD

M. (Venkat) Venkatraman, PhD has over ten years of drug discovery and preclinical development experience. He was formerly Senior Scientist Chemistry at CoMentis Inc. where he was one of the key inventors of ATG-052, a development candidate for the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist program for cognition enhancement. Previously, Dr. Venkatraman was Senior Scientist at Portola Pharmaceuticals where he was one of the inventors of PRT-083, a potent reversible P₂Y₁₂ receptor antagonist for the treatment of thrombosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Earlier in his career, Dr. Venkatraman was Scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals as well as at Cor Therapeutics (prior to its merger with Millennium) working on transforming growth factor β as a target for fibrosis and cancer.

Dr. Venkatraman received a PhD at the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India in the field of synthetic organic chemistry and pursued postdoctoral research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. He is an inventor on 6 US patents and patent applications.