Alkermes Appoints R&D SVP

Mark Namchuk, Ph.D., has been appointed senior vice president of Research, Pharmaceutical and Nonclinical Development at Alkermes. Dr. Namchuk will be responsible for advancing the company’s early-stage product pipeline and will serve on the executive management team, reporting to Elliot Ehrich, M.D., senior vice president of R&D and chief medical officer.
 
Dr. Namchuk has 20 years of experience in integrated R&D and drug discovery, most recently serving as senior vice president and interim global head of Research for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He has built and led departments supporting the critical components of early pharmaceutical R&D, including medicinal chemistry, protein biophysics, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and clinical and preclinical biomarkers. Earlier in his career, he served as the head of the biochemistry group at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
 
“Dr. Namchuk brings a wealth of valuable drug discovery and development expertise to our team, which will help to further strengthen our increasingly robust product pipeline,” said Richard Pops, Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes. “We look forward to his contributions and drug development insights as we create innovative new medicines and design studies to demonstrate their differentiated properties in addressing patient needs.”