NeurOp, Inc. announces that Lee H. Latimer, Ph.D., has been appointed as its head of chemistry. He will oversee the company’s chemistry program to support its drug development initiatives for the treatment of depression, neuropathic pain, ischemia (stroke), schizophrenia and other central nervous system disorders.

Dr. Latimer was most recently a consultant to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and provided expertise in process, analytical and medicinal chemistry. Prior to that, he was the senior director of process and analytical chemistry at Elan Pharmaceuticals. He successfully led in-house and outsourced oversight and development of GMP routes to five clinical candidates in its Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis programs. Dr. Latimer is also an inventor of semagacestat, which reached phase III clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with Eli Lilly.

“Lee brings a wealth of development experience to NeurOp at a time when our internal programs are advancing into clinical development,” said Barney Koszalka, Ph.D., president and CEO at NeurOp. “His work in early-stage medical chemistry programs will also greatly contribute to our ongoing efforts to develop new modulators of the NMDA receptor through our collaboration with Emory University.”

Dr. Latimer earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin under the mentorship of B.M. Trost and held an NIH Fellowship with W.G. Dauben at the University of California at Berkeley and C.J. Sih at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is an American Chemical Society Fellow.

About NeurOp

NeurOp, Inc. is an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical company developing new medicines for central nervous system disorders, including depression, neuropathic pain, ischemia (stroke), schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Its research targets various subunits of neuronal NMDA receptors and their potential therapeutic benefit. The company has a research collaboration and licensing agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the development of NeurOp’s compounds for the treatment of depression and neuropathic pain. Multi-year funding from the NIH supports the company’s research and development programs for schizophrenia and NP10679, its drug candidate for the prevention of ischemic damage. For more information, please visit www.neuropinc.com.

NeurOp contact:

Barney Koszalka, CEO
Phone: 404.941.2350