Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has hired several former senior members of Eli Lilly & Company’s Alzheimer’s Disease clinical development team. Eric Siemers, M.D., Russell Barton, M.S., Robert Dean, M.D., Ph.D., and Janice Hitchcock, Ph.D. are joining Acumen to continue the development of ACU193, a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting amyloid beta oligomers for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Acumen CEO Dan O’Connell commented, “We are delighted to have Dr. Siemers and several of his former Lilly colleagues join us in the effort to advance ACU193 as a targeted immunotherapy for Alzheimer’s disease. The team brings tremendous knowledge and experience in central nervous system and Alzheimer’s disease drug development from clinical trial design and operations to regulatory matters.”

Meet the Team

Eric Siemers, M.D., former Distinguished Medical Fellow of Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Disease team will join Acumen as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Siemers brings more than 25 years’ experience overseeing clinical trials of neurodegenerative disease, including five phase III studies as well as phase I and II studies. Dr. Siemers will serve as Chief Medical Officer and assume the role of principal investigator for the company’s NIA U01 translational grant.

Russell Barton, M.S., former Chief Operations Officer of the Alzheimer’s Disease team at Eli Lilly will join Acumen as IND & Clinical Operations Leader. With almost 40 years at Eli Lilly, Mr. Barton has extensive operational experience in Alzheimer’s disease and other neuroscience drug development, resulting in multiple New Molecular Entity, New Indication, and Line Extension registration submissions. Mr. Barton will serve as Clinical Operations and IND Leader.

Robert Dean, M.D., Ph.D., former Clinical Research Pathologist and Director of Diagnostics and Experimental Medicine at Eli Lilly will join Acumen as Senior Technical Advisor, Biomarkers and Analytical Methods. In his 21 years at Eli Lilly, Dr. Dean supported numerous drug development programs for cardiovascular, endocrine, oncological, psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders with emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Dean will serve as Senior Technical Advisor with a particular focus on analytical methods development.

Janice Hitchcock, Ph.D., former Director of Regulatory Affairs at Eli Lilly will join Acumen as Head of Regulatory Affairs. In her 17 years at Eli Lilly, Dr. Hitchcock led regulatory strategy for early and late stage Alzheimer’s drug development programs and supported several public-private collaborations in Alzheimer’s disease. She received two Lilly Research President’s Awards: one for establishing regulatory recommendations for development of biologics, and the other for engaging external stakeholders on Alzheimer’s regulatory policy. She was also named one of Lilly’s top 100 Innovators for her contributions to the first clinical trial in preclinical Alzheimer’s. Dr. Hitchcock will serve as Head of Regulatory Affairs.