Anavex appoints Preclinical Operations vice president

Anavex has appointed Ulrich Elben, PhD as Vice President of Preclinical Operations, who will be responsible for the pipeline development and optimization.

A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates to treat Alzheimer’s disease, other central nervous system (CNS) diseases, pain and various types of cancer, announced the new appointment on Wednesday.

“What attracted me to join Anavex is the very impressive pipeline consisting of potential breakthrough therapies for indications with very high unmet medical need like Alzheimer’s disease and other indications having potential beneficial impact on patients lives,” said Ulrich Elben, PhD.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Elben to Anavex during this exciting time in our growth. He has both experience and a shared passion for bringing promising drug candidates through the development cycle to market in an effort to serve patients with devastating diseases,” said Dr. Christopher U. Missling, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer for Anavex. “His expertise in the management of multidisciplinary programs is expected to add valuable depth to our team.”

Dr. Elben joins Anavex with extensive experience in global pharmaceutical development and research. His background includes roles as VP of Strategic Development Operations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, with responsibilities including project and portfolio management as well as the development of an oncology project. In addition Dr. Elben served as a member of the Vertex drug development advisory board and drug product review committee. He was also Chief Development Officer at Avaant Pharmaceuticals, where he led the development of oncology projects across the USA, Europe and India. Earlier in his career, Dr. Elben was CEO of Axxima Pharmaceuticals in Munich, Germany.