Michael R. Myers, PhD

Bio

Michael R. Myers received a B.A. in Chemistry from Hiram College in Ohio and completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh in the laboratory of Professor Ted Cohen.  Mike joined Rorer Pharmaceuticals in 1987 where his initial area of research was focused in the cardiovascular arena. His most significant contributions included work on adenosine agonists for ischemia (Phase II clinical candidate AMP-579) and a second generation adenosine agonist for hypertriglyceridemia (clinical candidate TGL-749), PDGF tyrosine kinase inhibitors for restenosis (prototype RPR101511 and optimized analogue RPR127963).  In addition to these efforts Mike worked as part of a larger team optimizing squalene synthase inhibitors, collaborated on additional  kinase targets (p56lck, CSF-1R, EGF-R) and made significant progress in developing orally active fXa inhibitors.  In 1998, Mike moved to Paris, France as an expatriate where his teams worked on targets in lead generation and optimization in the CNS (neurodegenerative disease), anti-infectives and oncology disease groups.  In addition to supporting internal discovery efforts, Mike participated as the chemistry team leader for the Targacept/Aventis collaboration focused on developing agents for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.  Over the years with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, which became Aventis (with the RPR/HMR merger), Mike participated as the chemistry representative for several initiatives including a kinase oncology platform task force, secondary screening task force, the global lead optimization committee (RPR) and the medicinal chemistry integration strategy team during the merger to form Aventis. 

In 2001, Dr. Myers joined Eli Lilly and Company as a Research Fellow in Discovery Chemistry working in the early Lead Generation space.  Dr. Myers has led efforts in evaluating new lead generation technologies, predictive ADMET and computational chemistry approaches and led a significant effort at Lilly to optimize Lead generation processes in early drug discovery.   In 2005, Dr. Myers moved from his Drug Discovery role to Sr. Director of Project Management and there he was engaged in project and portfolio management with responsibilities for oversight of the discovery and early development portfolio at Lilly (up to the end of Phase 2).  Since 2009, Dr. Myers’ main responsibilities within the External Innovation team at Eli Lilly & Company includes leading scientific Due Diligence activities in support of in-license/acquisition, out-license and strategic partnering activities.   Dr. Myers has also been engaged in Lilly’s academic outreach activities and for several years has supported the evaluation of translational science proposals and is currently responsible for the Lilly (academic) Research Award Program which has awarded more than 130 collaborations and committed $35 million dollars since the program’s introduction in 2011.   Dr. Myers has 35 patents to his credit along with >20 peer reviewed publications and numerous presentations.   Mike is currently leading the Scientific Advisory Board for the 8^th edition of Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Hunting Guide (an 8-Volume reference work) and he is also the co-editor for Volume 3 – Development.