OUR
People
Management Team
Brendan Magrab, JD
CEO, Board MemberBrendan Magrab (CEO) has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and marketing. He was most recently President of Transpharmative Advisors. Before that he was President and Chief Executive Officer of URL Pharma, Inc., where he had held positions of increasing responsibility, serving as Vice President of Intellectual Property, then General Counsel and then Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations. He was Vice President of Intellectual Property for Alpharma, Inc., and he served as an associate at a Washington DC law firm, as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and as a Patent Examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He served as Chairman of HedgePath Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from November 2016 to June 2019. Mr. Magrab received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry and Art History from the University of Virginia and his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.
Allen H. Heller, MD, MPH
Consulting Chief Medical OfficerDr. Allen Heller is a physician scientist with 25 years of experience in leadership roles in pharmaceutical research and development. He has held executive positions as Head of Clinical Pharmacology and Head of Preclinical Development for Bayer Pharmaceuticals in North America, as well as Global Head of Research and Development for Bayer’s Consumer Care Division. He holds an MD degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Southern California. He completed internal medicine and neurology residencies at Brown University and the Harvard Longwood Neurology Program and fellowship training in clinical pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. Prior to Bayer, Dr. Heller was an attending neurologist and full-time academic faculty member in the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, where he was the recipient of an NIH Teacher-Investigator Development Award. In 2010-11, while at Bayer, he was a visiting fellow in the Department of Statistics at Harvard with Professor Donald Rubin. He holds a part-time teaching appointment as Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. He is the author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications related to neuroscience, clinical pharmacology, and clinical trials in multiple therapeutic areas.
STEVEN L. KRILL, PHD
CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICERDr. Steven Krill has over 30 years of pharmaceutical development experience. Prior to joining Epalex, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Eagle Pharmaceuticals. He has also held positions as Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Teva Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Pharmaceutical R&D at Boehringer Ingelheim, Vice President of Technology Development at Lipocine Inc., Associate Director of Pharmaceutical Development at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and Pharmaceutics Center Head at Abbott Laboratories. Dr. Krill is an author of over 30 peer-reviewed publications and an inventor on over 10 patents/patent applications, He holds a BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati, an MS degree in Physical Pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati, and a PhD degree in Pharmaceutics from the University of Utah, where he studied under Distinguished Professor William I. Higuchi, PhD.
Board Of Directors
Michael Rogawski, MD, PhD
FOUNDERDr. Michael Rogawski is a professor at the University of California-Davis in the Department of Neurology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pharmacology, and an affiliate member of the Center for Neuroscience. Until 2006, he was senior investigator and chief of the Epilepsy Research Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Dr. Rogawski received his BA from Amherst College and MD and PhD (pharmacology) degrees from Yale University. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at NINDS, he completed residency training in neurology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Rogawski was chair of the UC Davis Department of Neurology until 2012. His research encompasses animal models of epilepsy, migraine, and nerve agent intoxication, as well as clinical studies on new treatments for seizures, epilepsy, migraine, traumatic brain injury, and neurodevelopmental disorders. His laboratory studies on AMPA receptors and neurosteroids have led to new treatment approaches for seizures and epilepsy and the marketed treatment for postpartum depression, brexanolone (Zulresso™). Dr. Rogawski has served on the editorial boards of the journals Molecular Pharmacology, Epilepsia, Epilepsy Research, Synapse, CNS Drug Reviews, Current Neuropharmacology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, BMC Pharmacology, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, and Nature Scientific Reports, and was executive editor of Neuropharmacology and associate editor of Neurotherapeutics.
Randall Murphy, PhD
FounderPrior to co-founding Epalex, Dr. Randall Murphy was senior vice-president at Medkura Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical development company. From 1978-2000, Dr. Murphy was a tenured faculty member at New York University and an adjunct faculty member at Cornell University Medical College in chemistry, neuroscience, and biological psychiatry. Beginning in 2000, he became active as an entrepreneur in the biotechnology/biopharmaceuticals industry, having co-founded several companies, including Achillion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ACHN), which is now public, and Marinus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MRNS), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on epilepsy that raised more than $70 million in venture financing and is now also a public company. Dr. Murphy is an expert in discovery medicinal chemistry and early- to late-stage pharmaceutical development. He is the youngest graduate of the University of Southern California and is a recipient of the Presidential Fellowship from New York University. Dr. Murphy holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of more than 180 research publications and an inventor on 15 issued patents.
Jon Saxe, BSChE, JD, LLM
ChairmanMr. Jon Saxe has served as a director of over 25 companies and at present is a director of two public companies, VistaGen (NASDAQ:VTGN), and Kyto Technology and Life Sciences (OTC:KBPH), as well as at the private companies Achelios Therapeutics, Aether Therapeutics, Arbor Vita, Arcuo Medical, Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, and Trellis Bioscience. He was Chairman of SciClone (prior to being sold SCLN:NASDAQ), President of PDL BioPharma, Inc. (formerly Protein Design Labs, Inc.) (NASDAQ: PDLI) from 1995 to 1999. In 1999-2000 he was Entrepreneur in Residence (E-I-R) at Institutional Venture Partners. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Saxe was Principal of Saxe Associates, Inc., consultants to venture capital firms and biotechnology, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical companies. From 1989 to 1993, he was the President and CEO of Synergen, Inc., a biotechnology company purchased by Amgen. Before that, Mr. Saxe was Vice President, Licensing and Corporate Development, and Head of Patent Law for Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc., where he worked for 29 years. Mr. Saxe received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, his JD degree from George Washington University School of Law, his Master of Laws degree from New York University School of Law, and a Certificate in Business Administration from Duke University.
Didric Cederholm
Board MemberDidric Cederholm is a Founding Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of Lion Point Capital, a global special situations investment fund. Prior to founding Lion Point Capital, Didric spent nearly eight years at Elliott Management and was previously a Principal at Eos Partners. Didric graduated in 2003 with honors from Columbia Business School, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and has a LLM from Stockholm University, where he graduated in 2001. From 1997-1999, Didric served in the Swedish Armed Forces as an Interrogation Officer and later as a 2nd Lieutenant in Swedish Military Intelligence.