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Pablo Lapuerta, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer |
Dr. Lapuerta joined Lexicon as senior vice president, clinical development and chief medical officer in March 2011. He is responsible for directing clinical development of Lexicon’s drug candidates from Phase 2 proof-of-concept through Phase 3 and approval. Dr. Lapuerta has 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in a variety of leadership roles in drug development, including global medical affairs and outcomes research strategy across multiple therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular disease, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and neurology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Lapuerta served as vice president at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was responsible for global development of an Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate with the associated use of an innovative biomarker. Dr. Lapeurta also served as senior vice president and chief medical officer at Cogentus Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company. Dr. Lapuerta received a B.S. from Harvard College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his training in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of California at Los Angeles in neuroscience. He served as assistant professor at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for several years. He has published more than 50 scientific articles on a wide range of topics including clinical trials, drug safety, epidemiology, health economics, and quality of care. |
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Alan S. Nies, M.D., Company Director and Chairman of Lexicon's Medical Advisory Board |
Dr. Nies has more than 40 years of clinical and pharmacological experience.
From 1992 through September 2002, Dr. Nies served in a series of senior management positions at Merck & Co. Inc., most recently as senior vice president of clinical sciences from 1999 to 2002. During his tenure at Merck, Dr. Nies was responsible for worldwide clinical development and clinical research. Dr. Nies was involved in the development of several drugs including Fosamax, Singulair, Emend, Zetia and Vioxx. Following his retirement from Merck, Dr. Nies has been consulting on drug development issues for several companies.
Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Nies spent 15 years as professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, and head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Nies also spent seven years at Vanderbilt University in the Clinical Pharmacology unit.
During his career, Dr. Nies has participated in many national and international committees and organizations and has received a number of honors including the Harry Gold award and the Oscar B. Hunter award. Dr. Nies received a PhRMA Foundation Faculty Award in Clinical Pharmacology in 1971 and the 2005 Award in Excellence of Clinical Pharmacology.
Dr. Nies received his B.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Washington and a Clinical Pharmacology fellowship at the University of California in San Francisco. In 1968 he went into the U.S. Army where he was Chief of the section on Clinical Pharmacology at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Here he worked on the development of antimalarial drugs for drug-resistant malaria that was endemic in Vietnam. The drug mefloquin came out of this program. |
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Joel P. Freiman, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Medical Director of Drug Safety |
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Dr. Freiman has been senior medical director of drug safety since February 2010, having served as medical director since January 2008. As a former Epidemiology Branch Chief at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and as a Medical Officer in the Division of Neuropharmacologic Drug Products, Dr. Freiman has more than 10 years of experience with the assessment and management of complex safety issues that arise during the course of drug development. He received his M.P.H. from the University of Texas School of Public Health, his M.D. from New York Medical College, and his B.S. from the City College of New York. |
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Linda Law, M.D., M.B.A., Medical Director of Clinical Development |
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Dr. Law joined Lexicon as Medical Director for Clinical Development in December 2010. She is responsible for managing the clinical development of several of Lexicon’s drug candidates from Phase 1 through to approval. Dr. Law has 13 years of pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry experience in a variety of roles including global project leadership, multinational head of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Affairs, R&D lead for New Business Development and Due Diligence, and Medical Director of Professional and Scientific Relations. These roles have spanned multiple therapeutic areas including cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology, both at Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals and as a consultant. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Law served as Phase III Project Leader at P&GP where she was responsible for global development and European approval of women’s health therapy. Dr. Law also served as the head of GI Medical Affairs for P&GP, managing both marketed and development compounds. She also held the position of interim CEO for Pharma-GPS, a biotech consulting company with activities in the US, Europe and China. Dr. Law received a B.S. from Rice University, an M.D. from The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University. She completed her training in Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University/North Carolina Baptist Hospital, and subsequently served as Associate Director, Emergency Medicine in departments in North Carolina and Alabama. Dr. Law is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. |
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Ikenna (Ike) Ogbaa, M.D., Medical Director of Clinical Development |
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Dr. Ike Ogbaa joined Lexicon as a Medical Director for Clinical Development in December 2010. Dr. Ogbaa has over 6 years of clinical experience in a variety of therapeutic areas including endocrinology, neurology/psychiatry, gastroenterology, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, hematology and rheumatology. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Ogbaa was an Associate Medical Director and Principal Investigator for Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD, Inc.), a leading global contract research organization (CRO). While at PPD, he was an investigator for numerous Phase 1 clinical trials. Prior to PPD, he served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Program Director for the General Medicine Residency Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he received numerous teaching awards. Dr. Ogbaa received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He also participated in the Harvard Medical School visiting clerkship program where he did a rotation in HIV/AIDS at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. He completed his training in internal medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. |
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Kenny S. Frazier, Senior Director of Clinical Operations |
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Mr. Frazier has been senior director of clinical operations since July 2008. He previously served as director of clinical operations from June 2005 to July 2008. Mr. Frazier has more than 18 years of experience in conducting Phase 1 through Phase 4 clinical trials in large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; working with both small molecules as well as biotherapeutics. He has managed operations in support of global cardiovascular, HIV and central nervous system development compounds. He has 10 years of experience in project management and directing clinical operations at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Tanox Inc. Mr. Frazier began his career in contract research organizations (CRO) working with Pharmaco Dynamics and Parexel International. |
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Elaine M. Clark, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs |
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Ms. Clark has been senior director of regulatory affairs since July 2008. She joined Lexicon in March 2005 as our manager of regulatory affairs and served as the director of regulatory affairs from January 2007 to July 2008. Ms. Clark has nearly 15 years experience in regulatory affairs and clinical operations, in both start-up biotechnology and contract research organization environments. She has had responsibility for filing numerous INDs in several therapeutic areas and direct interaction with regulatory agencies during all stages of product development. Ms. Clark has also played an integral role in successful NDA, ANDA and PMA (device) filings, which ultimately led to product approvals. |
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Alan J. Main, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Pharmaceutical Research |
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Dr. Main has been executive vice president of pharmaceutical research since February 2007 and served as senior vice president from July 2001 to February 2007. Dr. Main established the Medicinal Chemistry operations based in Princeton, New Jersey which are responsible for the design, synthesis, and preclinical testing of all of Lexicon’s small molecule drug candidates that may enter human clinical trials. In addition, Dr. Main has played a key role the design and implementation of the company's scientific strategy and prioritization of Lexicon's small molecule drug discovery portfolio. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Main was president and chief executive officer of Coelacanth Corporation, a leader in using proprietary chemistry technologies to rapidly discover new chemical entities for drug development. Lexicon acquired Coelacanth Corporation in July 2001 to bring together the powerful biology and chemistry technologies necessary to create a revolutionary new pharmaceutical company. Prior to Coelacanth, Dr. Main spent more than 20 years in the discovery and development of novel drugs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation where he was formerly senior vice president, U.S. Research. Dr. Main holds a B.S. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Liverpool, England and completed postdoctoral studies with the Nobel Laureate Prof. R.B. Woodward, at the Woodward Research Institute in Basel, Switzerland. |
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William E. Heydorn, Ph.D., Vice President of Preclinical Development |
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Dr. Heydorn has been our vice president of preclinical development since June 2003. He has more than 20 years of experience in preclinical and clinical drug development, pharmaceutical operations, project management and regulatory affairs. Dr. Heydorn has experience with more than 25 regulatory filings and has developed an expertise in central nervous system disorders. He has been responsible for filing new drug applications (NDAs) for candidates in depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension, and acute pain. He has held positions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Marion Merrell Dow (Sanofi-Aventis), Forest Laboratories and Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corporation. He received his B.S. in Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania. |
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Alan G.E. Wilson, Ph.D., ATS, Vice President of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics |
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Dr. Wilson joined Lexicon in September 2003 as senior director of drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and toxicology (DMPK). He was promoted to his current position of vice president of DMPK in March 2005. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Wilson held senior management and leadership positions with major international pharmaceutical and life science companies including Searle, Pharmacia and Pfizer. He is internationally recognized in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and toxicology and has more than 25 years of experience working on product discovery and development. He has been involved with the registration of several successful marketed products and has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. Dr. Wilson has Board of Director and Scientific Advisory experience with several companies. He is Board Certified in Toxicology and has produced more than 120 publications. He received his Ph.D. in Drug Metabolism/PK from the University of Surrey, U.K. and his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Surrey, U.K. Dr. Wilson has been an invited speaker and presenter at many international conferences. |
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