BrainCells names new chief medical officer and chief business officer

Dr Jochelson and Mr Levin will serve in integral roles managing clinical programs and licensing/partnership agreements for BrainCells’s pipeline of neurologic compounds.

Dr Jochelson will replace Steve Targum as chief medical officer. His primary focus will be on progression of the company’s clinical programs and expansion of the pipeline into broader indications. Most recently, Dr Jochelson served as senior vice president of development and chief medical officer of Somaxon.

Mr Levin will be responsible for all strategic business development activities including licensing, acquisitions and partnering. Most recently, he served as vice president of corporate development at Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Jim Schoeneck, CEO of BrainCells, said: “We have two compounds in Phase II trials which will produce the first ever data on clinical impact from targeting neurogenesis for therapeutic benefit. We have confidence in our drug candidates based on what we know about their neurogenic properties from our platform that enables us to conduct comparison analysis between multiple compounds, experiment with various pathways, analyze complex pharmacology, and image and measure the neurogenic process. Philip and Jason are top caliber people that come at a pivotal time in the company’s development.”