|
|
 |
 |
|||
|
|||
Dr. Benjamin R. Yerxa Sr. Vice President Discovery, Inspire Pharmaceuticals Ben Yerxa has over 12 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both large and small company settings. He currently serves as Sr. Vice President, Discovery for Inspire Pharmaceuticals where he is responsible for all research activities for the Company, including 4 interdependent departments: Chemistry, Molecular Pharmacology, Preclinical Programs and Intellectual Property/Legal. He is also co-chair of Inspire's Scientific Advisory Board. Prior to being promoted to his current position his work focused on designing and synthesizing novel P2Y receptor agonists, and he served as the preclinical project leader for diquafosol tetrasodium (INS365). He created a novel strategic opportunity for Inspire by developing the concept of ophthalmic uses for Inspire's core P2Y2 technology. He continues to serve as the project leader for diquafosol for the treatment of dry eye. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of California at Irvine in 1993 where he investigated thermal rearrangements of 4-pyrrolo-cyclobutenones. Prior to joining Inspire, Ben was a Research Scientist at Burroughs Wellcome where he focused on medicinal chemistry of antiviral and other compounds. He worked at Biophysica, Inc. for 2.5 years, synthesizing radiocontrast agents, including Oxilan, a marketed imaging product. He is an inventor of 19 issued US patents and a number of pending patent applications, and he is responsible for creating the Intellectual Property/Legal department within Discovery by recruiting the Company's first in-house attorney. He is a member of the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (Corporate Advisory Board), American Chemical Society, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (DDDRA Executive Committee, Program Committee), and Council of Entrepreneurial Development, North Carolina. He recently received the 40 Under 40 Leadership Award and was a finalist with Christy Shaffer for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (North and South Carolina). Ben's current research interests include dry eye, retinal edema, AMD, analgesia, platelet aggregation and IOP.
|