Corey Adams
Chief Business Officer, NoNO Inc.
Clinical Development of a PSD-95 Inhibitor for Acute Ischemic Stroke
Abstract
NoNO Inc. is developing emergency stroke treatments and has demonstrated clinical proof of concept for the in-hospital use of the eicosapeptide nerinetide to improve outcomes for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. Even with the best currently available treatments, at 3 months post-stroke approximately 15% of acute ischemic stroke patients still die, half lose functional independence and more than 80% have residual functional deficits. The global burden of disease for stroke is 2-4 times that of all dementias combined (for mortality and disability adjusted life years, respectively, including Alzheimer’s) and is the second leading cause of death globally. NoNO has conducted three large, randomized, placebo-controlled trials (FRONTIER, ESCAPE-NA1 and ESCAPE-NEXT) demonstrating clinical proof of concept that nerinetide, a first-in-class PSD-95 inhibitor, can ‘help the brain hold its breath’ long enough for blood flow to be restored and improve outcomes. The results underscore the critical importance of rapid treatment – as soon as possible and at least within 3 hours of stroke onset – to improve outcomes for the 12.2 million annual cases and 101.5 million people living in the aftermath of stroke globally.
Bio
Dr. Adams joined NoNO Inc. in 2017 bringing 20 years of operational experience in drug discovery and development, strategic partnering and global pharmaceutical transactions with a particular focus on the Central Nervous System (CNS). Dr. Adams leads the company’s financial, intellectual property and partnering functions. He began his career in the Department of Neurology at Boston Medical Center supporting a broad portfolio of CNS disease research focused primarily on neurodegeneration. He completed his PhD in Pharmacogenomics at the University of California San Francisco where he also served as Executive Director of the UCSF Innovation Accelerator spinning out technologies and companies from the University. Dr. Adams spent the next decade in business development roles incubating new ventures and leading transactions for both small biotech and specialty pharma.