Merck & Co., Inc. announced today that Darryle D. Schoepp, Ph.D. has been named senior vice president and franchise head, Neuroscience, Merck Research Laboratories (MRL). Dr. Schoepp assumes his new role on March 5th and will report to Peter S. Kim, Ph.D., president, MRL.
“Darryle Schoepp is among the world’s most outstanding drug discovery scientists, and we are delighted to have a leader of his stature join the MRL team,” Dr. Kim said. “The depth and breadth of his expertise across neuroscience research will greatly enhance the franchise-based research strategy that we have been implementing within MRL.”
Dr. Schoepp, 51, comes to MRL after 20 years in neuroscience discovery research at Eli Lilly and Company, where for the past three years he has served as vice president and overall global head of neuroscience research and early clinical investigation. In that role, he formulated the company’s neuroscience strategy and expanded the research emphasis in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and pain. He and his team were responsible for delivering a number of highly novel drug candidates now in clinical development.
At Merck, Dr. Schoepp will have overall responsibility for scientific direction across the drug discovery and development process for neuroscience, including Merck’s priority research areas of Alzheimer’s disease, pain and sleep disorders. He will be based at the Merck facility in Upper Gwynedd, PA.
“I join Peter Kim in expressing how pleased we are that a scientist of Dr. Schoepp’s distinction is joining the MRL team in this key leadership role,” said Richard T. Clark, chief executive officer and president, Merck. “I am confident that Dr. Schoepp will make outstanding contributions to neuroscience research and play a role in continuing Merck’s proud history of developing innovative new medicines that improve health and the quality of lives around the world.”
Dr. Schoepp received his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from North Dakota State University and his doctoral degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from West Virginia University. He conducted postdoctoral research in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Kansas.
He is recognized for having made major contributions in the investigation of the excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter glutamate in disease pathophysiology, pharmacology and therapeutics. He led early and current efforts to discover agents that act at the receptor level to activate, antagonize, or allosterically modulate excitatory amino acid neuronal transmission. With his colleagues at Lilly, Dr. Schoepp discovered many novel compounds that entered clinical development for the management of pain, migraine, epilepsy, anxiety, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative diseases. Most recently, his research has been focused on discovery of receptor agonists, antagonists and modulators in studying the role of glutamate regulation in psychiatric illnesses.
In 2002, Dr. Schoepp was honored with the Pharmacia / American Society for Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Award for Experimental Therapeutics for his research on the experimental therapeutics of metabotropic glutamate receptors. He has organized and participated in numerous international meetings and symposia, published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and is the inventor of multiple patents in the glutamate area.
He serves on the Basic Pharmacology Executive Committee of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Foundation, on the Board of Publication Trustees for ASPET and as Executive Editor for the journal Neuropharmacology. He is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).
About Merck
Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The Company devotes extensive efforts to increase access to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merck medicines but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck also publishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service. For more information, visit www.merck.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. The forward-looking statements may include statements regarding product development, product potential or financial performance. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Merck undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Merck’s business, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements in Item 1 of Merck’s Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, and in its periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, which the Company incorporates by reference.
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