News

Drug Development Expert Ian Massey, Ph.D. to join Scientific Advisory Board

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 1/29/14. The Bluefield Project to Cure FTD announces the appointment of veteran drug development executive and biotech entrepreneur Ian Massey, Ph.D. to its Scientific Advisory Board.

“Ian has tremendous scientific, regulatory and business expertise, and we are delighted that he is joining Bluefield’s scientific advisory board, “ said Dr. Rodney Pearlman, President of The Bluefield Project.

In 2006, Dr. Massey cofounded and served as President and CEO of Synosia Therapeutics to develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Using a strategy of licensing clinical stage assets and undertaking rapid proof-of-concept studies, Dr. Massey created a highly enabled portfolio of innovative central nervous system candidates for testing in new indications, including anxiety and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2011, Synosia was acquired by Finnish drug development company Biotie Therapies Corporation. While at Biotie, Dr. Massey oversaw completion of a Phase 2b/3 study in 420 Parkinson’s patients with the A2a antagonist SYN115, which achieved all primary and the majority of secondary endpoints. Additionally, he advanced SYN120, a dual 5HT6/5HT2a antagonist, to Phase 2 readiness for treatment of cognition and psychosis.

Previously, Dr. Massey held a number of leadership positions at Syntex Research & Development and Roche Bioscience, which acquired Syntex, including Head of Research and Preclinical Development. Over nearly 30 years at Roche and Syntex, Dr. Massey was a key contributor to the development of 16 FDA-approved drugs. He implemented state-of-the-art capabilities for lead identification, lead optimization, and safety assessment for rapid and efficient identification of high quality clinical candidates. In total, Dr. Massey contributed to the discovery, preclinical and early clinical development of approximately 40 New Chemical Entities that entered clinical studies, over 20 of which progressed to phase II/clinical proof of concept studies.

“Ian brings a wealth of experience about all stages of drug development which will be invaluable as we advance our mission to find a cure for frontotemporal dementia,“ said Dr. Pearlman.

In addition to Dr. Massey, The Bluefield Project’s Scientific Advisory Board consists of Steven Miller, M.D. (chair), Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Express Scripts; David Knopman, M.D., Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic; Kenneth Kosik, M.D., Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Santa Barbara; David Holtzman, M.D., Professor and Chair of Neurology and Associate Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine; Lawrence Steinman, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at Stanford University; and William Mobley, M.D, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego.