Saarbruecken, Germany, April 16, 2012 / B3C newswire / - ElexoPharm GmbH announces the appointment of Dr. Chris J. van Koppen as Head of Research. He will lead the preclinical drug discovery projects of ElexoPharm and will build further alliances with larger pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. van Koppen holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and brings extensive industry experience in drug discovery. Before joining ElexoPharm in January 2012, he served as Leader of four lead optimization projects at Merck Sharp & Dohme, The Netherlands. He was responsible for delivery of candidate drugs for preclinical development in endocrinological diseases. Dr. van Koppen was also strongly involved in assay development, HTS, lead finding and proof-of-concept projects. Before working at MSD, Dr. van Koppen was independent group leader at the Universitätsklinikum Essen and received his Habilitation in Pharmacology and Toxicology. He has published almost 70 peer-reviewed research papers, including publications in high IF journals (J Biol Chem, Endocrinology, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, PNAS, Mol Pharmacol, Br J Pharmacol, Thorax, Pharmacol Ther, and EMBO Journal).
Axel Koch, Managing Director of ElexoPharm, said: “We are delighted to have such an experienced scientist as Head of Research. His expertise in successfully leading preclinical drug discovery projects will strongly advance our innovative portfolio.”
Dr. van Koppen adds: “I am thrilled to work in the dynamic team of ElexoPharm on highly innovative projects to design and develop drugs for the treatment of endocrinological, cardiovascular and neoplastic diseases.”
About ElexoPharm
ElexoPharm GmbH is a German biotech company located in Saarbrücken, founded as a spin-off of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry of Saarland University headed by Professor Rolf Hartmann. ElexoPharm is focused on the preclinical discovery and optimization of novel innovative drugs for human diseases, which are currently not or insufficiently treatable with existing drugs. The largest success of ElexoPharm was the execution of an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Merck & Co. Inc. for one of its own research projects (development of aldosterone synthase inhibitors for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases) in 2010.
Contact
Axel Koch, MBA
Managing Director
ElexoPharm GmbH
Im Stadtwald, Geb. A1
66123 Saarbrücken
Tel.: +49-(0)681-910 2893
Fax: +49-(0)681-910 2894
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