Harald Hampel to Become Anavexs Scientific Advisory Board Member

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., 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 on September 21 the appointment of Harald Hampel, MD, MA, PhD, MSc, to the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Harald Hampel

The company says that internationally recognized expert on Alzheimer’s and related neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Hampel is Professor and AXA Research Fund Chair at Sorbonne Universities’ Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC) in Paris, the leading university in science, technology and medicine in France. The AXA-UPMC Chair is hosted within the highly specialized Institute for Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease (IM2A), a reference center for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, and affiliated with a leading neuroscience institution, the Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), as well as the Department of Neurology at the Pitié-Salpétrière University Hospital.

“We are excited to welcome Harald as a Scientific Advisor. He has conducted more than 50 clinical trials over the past 20 years and is recognized as a world-leading researcher who has developed international programs focused on Alzheimer’s therapy, diagnosis and the development of biological and imaging biomarkers, including his current work as AXA-UPMC Chair, which aims to improve early detection at the preclinical ‘silent stage’ before the onset of any clinical signs and symptoms,” said Christopher U. Missling, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anavex. “We believe Harald’s vast k

nowledge of Alzheimer’s, his experience and interest in drug development, and focus on early detection, diagnosis and intervention complement our therapeutic approach and offer significant value as we advance Anavex 2-73 through the clinic.”

After a post-doctoral fellowship focused on structural and functional neuroimaging of the healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease brain at the NIH/NIA Laboratory of Neurosciences in Bethesda, MD, Dr. Hampel became founding director of the Alzheimer Memorial Center and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Munich. In 2006, he was appointed as a Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland. During this time, he was a leading Principal Investigator at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN). In 2010, Dr. Hampel was appointed as Professor, Chair and Head of Department of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the Brain Imaging Center (BIC) at the University of Frankfurt.

“I am impressed with Anavex and its potential CNS platform drug, Anavex 2-73, which has shown promising interim clinical data from its Phase 2a Alzheimer’s trial,” said Dr. Hampel. “Anavex has also assembled an impressive team of business and scientific leaders, which I am delighted to join. I look forward to advising the company as it continues to focus on developing drugs that meet significant unmet needs in Alzheimer’s and other indications.”

Dr. Hampel has published more than 500 peer-reviewed research papers, 80 book chapters and eight books, many in world-leading scientific journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Lancet, The Lancet Neurology, Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and Nature Reviews Neurology. He has won numerous awards for his scientific work on healthy and diseased brains as well as biomarker and therapy discovery in Alzheimer’s. Additionally, Dr. Hampel has been a reviewer for leading international scientific journals and funding agencies in the US, Canada and Europe and is Senior Associate Editor of the leading international Alzheimer’s journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

He obtained his MD and PhD at the University of Munich. Dr. Hampel also holds an MSc from Cologne University and an MA from Trinity College at the University of Dublin.