Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> November 2, 2009
DR. MARK VARNEY, Ph.D., is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Varney has spent over 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined Cortex as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer in January 2006, and he was promoted to President and CEO in August 2008. Prior to joining Cortex, Dr. Varney held senior-level positions at Sepracor, Inc., where he was Vice President and Head of Discovery, and at Bionomics, Ltd., where he was Vice President of Drug Discovery. Upon the acquisition of SIBIA by Merck, Inc., in 1999, he was appointed a Director at Merck's San Diego facility. Prior to SIBIA, he held research positions at Servier in France and Merck Sharp & Dohme in the U.K. Dr. Varney received his B.Sc. in biochemistry with honors from Surrey University, U.K. He completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at Oxford University, U.K. Dr. Varney's career focuses on drug discovery programs for treating schizophrenia, depression, cognitive disorders, anxiety, pain, epilepsy and insomnia. He has been successful in developing drug candidates in several of these disease areas, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Varney has also filed numerous patent applications relating to new chemical entities and methods of use. Profile
TWST: Let's start with a brief history of your company, Cortex Pharmaceuticals, as well as an overview of your portfolio of products.
Dr. Varney: Cortex Pharmaceuticals (COR) is a neuroscience company
