Eric Parker, Ph.D.

Eric Parker has over 34 years of drug discovery and early development experience in big pharma (BMS, Schering-Plough, Merck), biotech (Kallyope, Nido Biosciences) and as a consultant for several biotech, venture and non-profit firms.  During his career, Eric has led programs in the areas of neurodegenerative disease, psychiatric disease, metabolic disease and supportive cancer care.  He was a major contributor to the discovery and development of numerous clinical candidates, including the BACE inhibitor verubecestat for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, the adenosine A2A receptor antagonist preladenant for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and cancer and the NK1 antagonist rolapitant (marketed as Varubi®) for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.  Eric is the author of >100 scientific articles, inventor on 3 patents, lectures extensively and serves on several external advisory boards.  He was chosen to be a Merck Presidential Fellow in 2010 and was awarded the Research and Hope Award by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association in 2012 for his work on Alzheimer’s disease.  Eric holds a B.S. in pharmacy and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.