Jared Cumming, Merck, to Give a Presentation at GTCbio’s Protease Inhibitors Conference

San Diego, CA, February 11, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Jared Cumming, Director, Global Chemistry at Merck, will give a distinguished speaker presentation on, “Discovery of Verubecestat (MK-8931): A beta-Secretase Inhibitor in Phase 3 Clinical Development for Alzheimer’s Disease” at GTCbio’s 2nd Protease Inhibitors in Drug Discovery Conference to be held on March 1-2, 2016 in San Diego, CA.

In this presentation, Dr. Jared Cumming will discuss the discovery of MK-8931, its pre-clinical profile, and Phase 1 pharmacodynamic data from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients dosed with this compound. MK-8931 is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials in mild-to-moderate and prodromal AD patients with the potential to definitively test the amyloid hypothesis of AD.

According to the amyloid hypothesis, aggregates of beta-amyloid peptides are central to the etiology of AD. The aspartyl protease beta-secretase (BACE1) is responsible for the first step in the proteolytic pathway that produces these peptides in the brain. Extensive genetic and pharmacological studies in animals and humans have shown that BACE1 inhibition has the potential to slow or halt the progression of AD with a sufficient therapeutic window for the requisite long term dosing. Dr. Cumming and his team at Merck have now designed an additional imino heterocycle scaffold and in parallel have worked to further optimize binding interactions in sub-sites adjacent to the catalytic dyad. From this research, Dr. Cumming and his team have identified the importance of MK-8931. MK-8931 potently inhibits BACE1 in biochemical and cellular assays and is very selective over other key aspartyl proteases.

Dr. Jared Cumming is currently a Director ofGlobal Chemistry at Merck at their Kenilworth site in New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1997 where he worked with Professor Gary Posner. Dr. Cumming then joined the Medicinal Chemistry Department at Schering-Plough in 2001 after an NIH post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University. Dr. Jared Cumming has held roles of increasing responsibility in the neuroscience and cardiometabolic disease therapy areas. Jared’s experience has run the gamut from fragment based drug design to lead optimization to working with clinical development teams. Dr. Cumming has worked on a number of compounds that have progressed into the clinic. This includes verubecestat (MK-8931), a beta-secretase inhibitor in Phase 3 clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Jared Cumming is an inventor on 27 issued patents and a co-author of 29 papers, reviews, and book chapters.

Join them at the 2nd Protease Inhibitors in Drug Discovery Conference where they will provide a forum for scientists from both industry and academia to share recent advances in protease inhibitor research, from biological functions to translational aspects for drug discovery. Speakers will cover topics such as regulation of proteases by membrane-associated proteolysis, new clinical trials for protease inhibitors, protease inhibitors in translational research, and many more topics. In addition to cutting-edge scientific presentations, attendees will be able to form new connections during dedicated networking sessions.

This conference is a part of their larger Enzymes in Drug Discovery Summit, which consists of three additional parallel conferences.

6th Ubiquitin Research in Drug Discovery
11th Protein Kinases in Drug Discovery
2nd Protease Inhibitors in Drug Discovery
Epigenetic Enzymes in Drug Discovery

For more information please visit website: www.gtcbio.com/protease/agenda

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