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CoMentis Announces Appointment of Martin Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., as Vice President
South San Francisco, CA – June 6, 2007
CoMentis, Inc. (formerly Athenagen), a privately held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that Martin Tolar, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the company as Vice President of Strategic and Corporate Development, a newly created position. Dr. Tolar joins CoMentis from Pfizer, where he spent six years in a variety of leadership positions in Clinical Development and Alliance Management, as well as Business Development. Most recently, Dr. Tolar chaired the Neuroscience Licensing Team at Pfizer.
“Martin’s academic and industry training in Neurology, combined with his extensive experience in CNS drug development and licensing, make him an ideal addition to our executive management team,” commented W. Scott Harkonen, M.D., CoMentis President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our focus on neurological diseases, including several proprietary compounds targeting Alzheimer’s disease and cognition, will be enhanced by Martin’s depth of knowledge and expertise.”
As Director, Neuroscience Worldwide Business
Development at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Tolar was
responsible for licensing and outreach activities in Neurology
and Psychiatry, including the recent acquisition of Rinat Neurosciences
and the license of the RAGE platform from TransTech Pharma.
Prior to his work in Neuroscience Licensing, Dr. Tolar served
as the U.S. Clinical Leader for indiplon, an insomnia treatment
developed with Neurocrine Biosciences, where he was responsible
for the conduct of clinical trials and the New Drug Application
(NDA) filings for immediate and modified release formulations.
Dr. Tolar also holds an appointment at Yale University School
of Medicine as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology,
and has published more than 20 scientific papers and posters
in the area of Neurosciences.
Dr. Tolar received his M.D. from
the 2nd Medical School, Charles University in Prague, Czech
Republic, and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University
of Cincinnati in Ohio for his work on the role of apolipoprotein
E in Alzheimer’s disease. He then completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, and a residency in Neurology at the Boston Medical Center. Dr. Tolar also worked as consultant for Apologic, Inc. and Genzyme Corporation.
About CoMentis
CoMentis, Inc. has its headquarters in South San Francisco, with research operations in both South San Francisco and Oklahoma City. The company is engaged in the discovery and development of small-molecule drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cognitive disorders. The company has two fundamental technology platforms: (i) aspartic protease inhibitors, including beta-secretase inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease; and (ii) nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists and antagonists for the treatment of angiogenesis mediated diseases and cognitive disorders.
Originally founded in 2004 as Athenagen,
Inc., the company was re-named CoMentis following the August
2006 merger with Zapaq, Inc., which created a leading neurovascular
disease franchise. Zapaq was founded in 2001 by Jordan Tang,
Ph.D., of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and Arun
Ghosh, Ph.D., now at Purdue University, both experts in the
field of aspartic proteases. Dr. Tang's groundbreaking discovery
of beta-secretase, an aspartic protease which is a critical
enzyme in beta amyloid production, was published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences in 2000.
CoMentis currently has three product development
programs based on its two technologies: ATG-3, a topical (eye
drop) anti-angiogenesis compound for neovascular AMD; CTS-21166,
an orally active beta-secretase inhibitor for Alzheimer’s disease; and GTS-21, an oral agonist of the alpha-7 nACh receptor pathway for cognition enhancement.
For more information: www.comentis.com
CONTACT COMENTIS:
W. Scott Harkonen
M.D,President & CEO
Office (650) 869-7600
press@comentis.com
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