Neurodegenerative Disease Drug Development

Paul Brennan, President and CEO of NervGen Pharma Corp, developer of treatments related to nerve damage and neurodegenerative diseases, discusses the struggle for financial backing for the development of drugs to treat conditions such as traumatic brain injury and stroke. He compares this to the ‘money’ available to finding an effective treatment and cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

President and Chief Executive Officer. Paul Brennan has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries working in leadership roles in general management, corporate strategy, commercial planning, business development and regulatory affairs in Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most recently Mr. Brennan’s experiences include senior business development and management positions in various biotech companies, including Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Arbutus Biopharma, Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, and AnorMED Inc. Mr. Brennan has a comprehensive list of business development and licensing transactions, totaling over $3 billion in value: he played key roles in the merger of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and OnCore BioPharma to create Arbutus Biopharma, in the sale of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals to Vifor Pharma for $915 million and in the sale of AnorMED to Genzyme for $580 million. Prior to working in biotech Mr. Brennan held senior roles in Business Development and Regulatory Affairs at AstraZeneca. Mr. Brennan holds a MSc in Physiology, and a BSc (Hons) in Life Sciences from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.