Healthcare Industry News: NormOxys
News Release - June 21, 2010
NormOxys Appoints Dr. John A. Hey Senior Vice President of Preclinical and Early Development
Brings More than 20 Years of R&D Experience to CompanyWELLESLEY, Mass.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--NormOxys, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a novel class of small molecule drugs which enhance the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to diseased tissues, today announced that John A. Hey, Ph.D., has been appointed Senior Vice President of Preclinical and Early Development. In this role, Dr. Hey will be responsible for the drug discovery and preclinical drug development activities for NormOxys’ platform of novel oxyren compounds, as well as all preclinical research. Dr. Hey will work closely with the NormOxys management team to support the advancement of clinical lead OXY111A, a novel allosteric modulator of affinity of oxygen to hemoglobin, which is in clinical development for the treatment of two diseases, chronic heart failure and cancer.
“John brings a strong record of achievement in drug discovery and development, having established and managed effective research organizations that have generated multiple, high-quality new clinical compounds,” said Martin Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of NormOxys. “His skills and experience are ideally suited to support NormOxys through our next stage of growth as we advance and broaden our pipeline, and continue to leverage our proprietary oxyren platform and technology.”
“NormOxys’ science is uniquely compelling, and I am delighted to be joining the company at such an exciting time” said John Hey, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Preclinical and Early Development for NormOxys. “I am particularly enthusiastic about the potential for a new class of drugs, oxyrens, to make a significant difference in treating a wide range of high morbidity and mortality diseases through enhanced, regulated oxygen delivery to diseased tissues.”
Dr. Hey is a biotechnology executive with more than 20 years of drug discovery and development experience. Dr. Hey joins NormOxys from CoMentis where he served as Senior Vice President, Discovery and Preclinical Drug Development where he established a drug discovery and lead optimization facility comprised of a team of 25 scientists covering key aspects of early drug development. At CoMentis, he also directed the technical and scientific due diligence efforts that led to the $760 million partnership with Astellas Pharma. Prior to his tenure at CoMentis, Dr. Hey spent two decades at the Schering-Plough Research Institute in multiple roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Senior Director, Neurobiology. In this role he led multidisciplinary research operations comprising preclinical through early clinical activities. During his tenure at Schering-Plough Research Institute, John advanced more than 15 NCEs into clinical development. Dr. Hey is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and is the author of more than 140 peer reviewed publications.
About NormOxys
NormOxys is developing a novel class of small molecule drugs, oxyrens, which enhance the body’s ability to deliver oxygen more efficiently to diseased tissues with oxygen deficiency. This new class of drugs can be potentially developed in a broad range of clinical indications where therapeutic benefit can be obtained through an increased, regulated delivery of oxygen to hypoxic tissues, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, anemia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and diabetic retinopathy.
The company is based in Wellesley, MA and was founded by Prof. Claude Nicolau, PhD, and Nobel Laureate Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn, PhD, based on their groundbreaking investigations in chemistry and cellular biophysics. To learn more about NormOxys, please visit the Company’s website at www.NormOxys.com.
Source: NormOxys
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