New chief medical officer for Neurocrine Biosciences
Christopher O’Brien, M.D., chief medical officer of Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., is retiring in February 2018 after a transition period with his successor. Dr. O’Brien joined Neurocrine in 2005, and has led the clinical development and medical affairs activities for more than 12 years. Dr. O’Brien will remain as an exclusive consultant for Neurocrine.
“On behalf of the board, shareholders and our employees, I want to thank Chris for his tremendous contributions as Chief Medical Officer of Neurocrine,” says Kevin Gorman, Ph.D., CEO of Neurocrine Biosciences. “With his considerable expertise and leadership, we successfully developed and obtained FDA approval of Ingrezza capsules for the treatment of adults with tardive dyskinesia and advanced our clinical development programs for Tourette syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, endometriosis, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. I am very pleased that Chris will continue to be a part of the Neurocrine team for the foreseeable future.”
Eiry W. Roberts, M.D., joined the company as chief medical officer, effective January 8, 2018.
“We are very pleased to welcome Eiry to Neurocrine as she brings extensive senior leadership and pharmaceutical management experience to the team,” Dr. Gorman says. “Eiry’s strong background in implementing strategic clinical development programs and navigating the regulatory approvals process across phases of drug development from research to commercialization in multiple therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, will be valuable as we execute on our commercialization and clinical plans and advance our pipeline in support of our commitment to relieve patient suffering and enhance lives.”
Dr. Roberts has more than 25 years of research and development experience in the pharmaceutical industry across all phases of drug development from research through commercialization in multiple therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, inflammation, oncology and metabolic diseases. She joins Neurocrine from Eli Lilly and Co. where she held various positions during her tenure, including VP, Clinical Pharmacology and VP of R&D, BioMedicines Business Unit.
Dr. Roberts was the chair of the Medical Review Committee, where she was responsible for review and approval of all the integrated clinical plans for molecules in the Lilly portfolio. She was also a member of Lilly’s Corporate Portfolio Management Committee and Lilly Ventures Steering Committee. Dr. Roberts was accountable for early clinical development programs across all therapeutic areas within Lilly, as well as registration for new chemical entities and biproducts in Phase III development. During her time at Lilly, Dr. Roberts established a new therapeutic area, which resulted in the development of five potential novel medicines from Phase I through to approval, with two of them successfully receiving regulatory approval. Dr. Roberts also has extensive leadership and business development experience, including the management of strategic alliances, business partnerships and venture capital collaborations.
Dr. Roberts is a physician who trained in pharmacology and medicine in the United Kingdom, qualifying from the University of London in 1987. Her post-graduate clinical training was in clinical pharmacology and cardiology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal London Hospital.
Neurocrine Biosciences is a San Diego-based biotechnology company focused on neurologic, psychiatric and endocrine related disorders.
