Precision Therapeutics
for Brain Diseases

Kynexis is advancing the first potential precision medicine for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS).

Our Purpose

Restore brain function to enable a better life for people suffering with schizophrenia

A significant challenge in improving the lives of people who have schizophrenia has been developing a treatment for CIAS, which is a major cause of disability for over 24 million affected people worldwide. The dysregulation of kynurenic acid is hypothesized to cause cognitive impairment in people with schizophrenia, and we are taking a biomarker-based approach to identify patients most likely to benefit from our potential new therapy.

Understand the causal human biology in cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS)

For decades, research on novel potential therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders relied primarily on animal models. At Kynexis, we use a human biology-based approach for our target rationale, a causal biomarker approach to assert our mechanism of action in clinical development, and a human genetics approach to identify responder sub-populations. We believe that this convergence of human data for rationale, biomarkers, and genetics uniquely positions this program for success in CIAS and possibly additional indications as well.

Targeting a key mechanism in the kynurenine pathway.

Based on the pioneering work of two Kynexis founders – Dr. Carol Tamminga, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, and Dr. Robert Schwarcz, University of Maryland, Baltimore – we are taking a precision approach to target KAT-II, a key enzyme in the kynurenine pathway. KYN-5356 is a potential first-in-class small molecule that is a potent and highly selective KAT-II inhibitor, solving the challenges of previous attempts at KAT-II inhibition.

APPROACH

Management Team

Kees Been

Chief Executive Officer

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Jens Wendland, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

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Thomas Rasmussen

Chief Business Officer

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Nancy Van Osselaer

Chief Development Officer

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Board of Directors

Kees Been

Chief Executive Officer

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Peter Høngaard

Executive Chairman

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Christer Köhler

Founding Director

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Dmitrij Hristodorov

Investor Director

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Raúl Martín-Ruiz

Investor Director

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Jacob Lange Moresco

Investor Director

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Tim Lohoff

Board Observer

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Adam Rosenberg

Independent Board Member

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SCIENTIFIC FOUNDERS

Brett Clementz, Ph.D.

Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Georgia, Director of UGA’s BioImaging Research Center

John Harrison, Ph.D.

Associate Professor at the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Chief Scientific Officer at Scottish Brain Sciences

Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D.

Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair for Research, and Director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Dana C. Hilt, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer at Actinogen Therapeutics

Richard Keefe, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurosciences at Duke University Medical Center

Tom Laughren, M.D.

Director of Regulatory Affairs for Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Trials Network and Institute, retired Director of the Division of Psychiatry Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA

Robert Schwarcz, Ph.D.

Scientific Co-founder of Kynexis and Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Baltimore

Carol Tamminga, M.D.

Scientific Co-founder and Chair of the SAB at Kynexis, Professor at the University of Texas UT Southwestern Medical Center

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Steve Brannan, M.D.

Former Chief Medical Officer, Karuna Therapeutics

Steve Brannan, M.D.

Dr. Brannan is the former Chief Medical Officer at Karuna Therapeutics and a neuroscience drug development expert who has held senior positions overseeing both clinical development and medical affairs with more than 15 years of industry experience.  Dr. Brannan has been active in the development of multiple important central nervous system treatments, with experience across drug development, registration, medical affairs, launch, and lifecycle management in the areas of anxiety, depression, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, schizophrenia, migraine, cognition, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. He has authored over 50 publications and routinely gives invited talks and presentations at industry conferences.

Brett Clementz, Ph.D.

Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Georgia, Director of UGA’s BioImaging Research Center

Brett Clementz, Ph.D.

Brett Clementz, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Georgia and the Director of UGA’s BioImaging Research Center. He has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) since 1991, and his research programs translate clinical neuroscience knowledge into treatment targets for people with serious psychiatric conditions.

John Harrison, Ph.D.

Associate Professor at the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Chief Scientific Officer at Scottish Brain Sciences

John Harrison, Ph.D.

John Harrison, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, Visiting Professor at King’s College London, Chief Scientific Officer at Scottish Brain Sciences, and an acknowledged cognition expert whose principal professional interest is in helping people understand, maintain, and enhance their cognitive skills. In the past 25 years, John has assisted more than 80 CNS drug development organizations with the selection and successful integration of cognitive testing into therapeutic development programs.

Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D.

Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair for Research, and Director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D.

Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D., is a Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair for Research, and Director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is also a Senior Health Research Scientist at the Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center in Miami, FL. Dr. Harvey has authored over 1,000 scientific papers and abstracts and written over 70 book chapters. His research has focused on cognition and everyday functioning, in healthy aging, schizophrenia, and other serious mental illnesses.

Dana C. Hilt, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer at Actinogen Therapeutics

Dana C. Hilt, M.D.

Dana C. Hilt, M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer at Actinogen Therapeutics and has more than 25 years of drug development experience, primarily in CNS drugs. He has been involved in the development of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), schizophrenia, and other non-CNS conditions.

Richard Keefe, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurosciences at Duke University Medical Center

Richard Keefe, Ph.D.

Richard Keefe, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neurosciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Keefe’s research is primarily devoted to understanding cognitive dysfunction and its treatment in patients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric and neurological conditions. He has had a leadership role for cognitive methods in several large NIMH studies and over 100 industry trials and has published more than 300 scientific papers.

Tom Laughren, M.D.

Director of Regulatory Affairs for Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Trials Network and Institute, retired Director of the Division of Psychiatry Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA

Tom Laughren, M.D.

Thomas Laughren, M.D., is the Director of Regulatory Affairs for Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Trials Network and Institute (CTNI). He retired as Director of the Division of Psychiatry Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA in December of 2012, where he oversaw the review of all psychiatric drug development activities conducted under INDs, the review of all NDAs, and supplements for new psychiatric drug claims. He has authored and co-authored many papers and book chapters on regulatory and methodological issues pertaining to the development of psychiatric drugs.

C. David Nicholson, Ph.D.

Operational Partner at Glide Healthcare and board member of Volastra, Adverum, Actinium, and Wild Bioscience

C. David Nicholson, Ph.D.

Dr. Nicholson currently serves on the board of directors at Volastra, Adverum, Actinium, and Wild Bioscience, and is an operational partner at Gilde Healthcare. He most recently served as executive vice president and chief research and development officer of Allergan, prior to its acquisition by AbbVie in May 2020, and has over thirty years of strategic business and R&D leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry across a wide range of therapeutic areas.

Robert Schwarcz, Ph.D.

Scientific Co-founder of Kynexis and Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Baltimore

Robert Schwarcz, Ph.D.

Robert Schwarcz, Ph.D., is a Scientific Co-founder of Kynexis and Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Baltimore. Continuously funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health for more than 40 years, his laboratory pioneered the study of the kynurenine pathway in the brain, leading to the realization that it plays a substantive role in cognition and in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Based on these insights, he co-founded Kynexis to develop fundamentally new interventions for the prevention and treatment of brain dysfunctions in humans.

Carol Tamminga, M.D.

Scientific Co-founder and Chair of the SAB at Kynexis, Professor at the University of Texas UT Southwestern Medical Center

Carol Tamminga, M.D.

Carol Tamminga, M.D., is a Scientific Co-founder and Chair of the SAB at Kynexis and the Department of Psychiatry Chair and Chief of Translational Research in Psychosisat UT Southwestern. She is a leading psychiatrist and neuroscientist known for her groundbreaking translational research in the field of psychosis, which has led to major insights into the mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and its associated genetics and biomarkers.

Leadership

Tackling brain diseases with an accomplished team of industry experts.

At Kynexis, we are pioneering the next era of treatments for brain diseases by advancing the first precision medicine for CIAS. Harnessing the power of human genetics, biomarkers, and large-scale data, our foundational science is the driving force behind our mission to transform the treatment paradigm of schizophrenia. 

If you want to learn more about the work at Kynexis or are interested in joining our team of trailblazers, contact us. 

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