President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Thomas N. Chase, SD, MD, a co-founder of Chase Therapeutics Corporation, currently serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer . He has over 40 years experience in the discovery and development of novel pharmaceuticals for central nervous system disease, first at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and later as a founder and manager of specialty pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Chase has extensive experience in drug discovery and development for central nervous system disorders and has designed and overseen clinical studies for over 100 INDs related to the treatment of indications in neurology and psychiatry. While at the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the NIH. Dr. Chase served there as Scientific Director, Intramural Research Director, Clinical Director, and founding chief of the Experimental Therapeutics Branch. His team contributed to the discovery and development of several of the major drugs now marketed for Parkinson’s disease. He left the federal government in 2005 to co-found and lead Hamilton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Upon its acquisition by another pharmaceutical company, he become the Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chase Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Allergan in 2016. Subsequently, Dr. Chase co-founded Riverside Pharmaceuticals and currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of that company as well as of Chase Therapeutics.
He coauthored more than 500 peer reviewed medical-scientific publications and over 80 patents. Dr. Chase was the founding President of the American Society of Experimental Neuro Therapeutics (ASENT) and is a member of numerous other professional associations and journal editorial boards. He received both the Superior and the Distinguished Service Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service as well as awards from Yale University, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, the American Parkinson's Disease Association, National Parkinson Foundation, American Academy of Neurology, Movement Disorders Society, and the governments of Bolivia and Pakistan.
Dr. Chase graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed neurology residency training at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital and conducted postdoctoral studies in basic and clinical neuropharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) before transferring to the NINDS.
Board Chair
Kathleen Clarence-Smith, MD, PhD, is a neurologist whose career has been dedicated to identifying, selecting for development new pharmaceuticals, and shepherding them from early development stages onto the market. She has worked in senior positions in large pharmaceutical companies (Sanofi; Roche; Otsuka) and more recently she founded, raised money and headed several start-up pharmaceutical companies. She is the founding Chief Executive Officer of GT Biopharma and currently serves as President of its CNS Division and member of its Board of Directors.
At Sanofi from 1980 to 1987, Dr. Clarence-Smith headed the CNS group (preclinical and clinical worldwide. In this position, she continued preexisting programs in depression and Alzheimer's disease, and launched new programs in bipolar disorder, anxiety, epilepsy, muscle relaxation, and pain. She obtained registration for a new antidepressant in the EU. Under her stewardship, the Sanofi CNS group grew from 20 people to nearly 150 people. She also served as a member of the international strategic marketing team for neurologic and psychiatric compounds.
At Hoffmann-La Roche (1987-1992), Dr. Clarence-Smith was Head of CNS in charge of neurology and psychiatry drug development worldwide. Two NDAs were rapidly approved under her stewardship. She also launched two new programs in Parkinson's disease (both reached NDA), one in Alzheimer's disease (also reached NDA), and another in anxiety (leading to an NDA). At Otsuka (1992-1995), as head of the CNS group, she initiated clinical trials for an anti-schizophrenia drug, Abilify, the demonstrated efficacy with a unique profile of activity leading to registration and successful marketing.
Dr. Clarence-Smith co-founded Prestwick Chemical in 1996, a medicinal chemistry company, based in Strasbourg (France) that sells chemical libraries and provides medicinal chemistry services. In 2014, Prestwick Chemical was acquired by Bionomics. Dr. Clarence-Smith also co-founded Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company that in-licensed and developed drugs for neurological and psychiatric disease. As standing CEO, Dr. Clarence-Smith supervised the development of tetrabenazine from IND filing to approvable NDA. Tetrabenazine was out-licensed to Ovation (subsequently Lundbeck) and Prestwick was acquired by Biovail.
In 2007, Dr. Clarence-Smith co-founded KM Pharmaceutical Consulting, a firm that manages preclinical and clinical pharmaceutical projects especially for overseas clients as well as start-up, and mid-size U. S. companies. In 2008, Dr. Clarence-Smith assisted in founding Chase Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a company focused on the treatment of Alzheimer‘s disease, where she served as Board Chair and later as Chief Medical Officer before the company was acquired by Allergan.
Dr. Clarence-Smith received her MD and PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Tours (France) and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Clarence-Smith is a board certified neurologist (Salpêtrière). She is a founder and a past President of ASENT and a member of several scientific societies. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and of more than 85 patents. She is fluent in English, French and Italian.
