- Inaugural appointments include globally renowned leaders and experts on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and stimulant abuse
PHILADELPHIA, PA, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLON), (“Vallon” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of novel drugs that are designed to deter abuse in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced the formation of and initial appointments to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB will guide and advise the Company as it advances its novel abuse-deterrent platform technology and its lead development programs ADAIR and ADMIR, which leverage the technology to resist manipulation for snorting and provide barriers to injection.
David Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vallon commented, “We are proud to announce the formation of and the initial appointments to our SAB, which I believe marks a significant milestone for the Company. We are pleased to welcome these accomplished and highly regarded individuals as our inaugural members and look forward to leveraging their knowledge and expertise moving forward. Drs. Faraone, Newcorn and Rostain each bring distinct expertise and invaluable leadership in the psychiatry field as a whole, but more specifically in ADHD, which will be an important asset to the Company. As we work to advance our proprietary abuse-deterrent technology and address the treatment of CNS disorders we are pleased to have their scientific perspectives and guidance to assist Vallon in unlocking its full potential.”
Joining the Company’s SAB are the following:
Stephen V. Faraone, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience & Physiology, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Dr. Faraone is one of the world's leading authorities on the genetics of psychiatric disorders and an expert on ADHD. He has made substantial contributions to research in psychopharmacology and research methodology having authored over 1000 journal articles, editorials, chapters and books, he was the eighth highest producer of High Impact Papers in Psychiatry from 1990 to 1999 as determined by the Institute for Scientific Information. In 2005, ISI determined him to be the second highest cited author for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. From 2014 to 2019 he has been listed as a highly cited researcher by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics. In 2019 and 2020, his citation metrics placed him in the top 0.01% of scientists across all fields. In 2021, expertscape indicated he was the top-rated expert in ADHD, worldwide.
In 2002, Dr. Faraone was inducted into the CHADD Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding achievement in medicine and education research on attention disorders. In 2004 and 2008, Faraone was elected Vice President of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics and in 2019, he received the Paul Hoch Award from the American Psychopathological Association. In 2008, he received the SUNY Upstate President's Award for Excellence and Leadership in Research. In 2019, he was elected President of the World Federation of ADHD.
Dr. Faraone also currently serves as the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Research Program Pediatric Psychopharmacology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. Over the course of his career, Dr. Faraone has been principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health funded grants studying the nature and causes of mental disorders in childhood. Additionally, Dr. Faraone heads the adult ADHD education initiative at www.adhdinadults.com and is Biostatistical and Methodology Editor for the Journal of Attention Disorders.
Jeffrey Newcorn, MD
Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Director of the Division of ADHD and Learning Disorders; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Newcorn is a highly regarded researcher in the areas of ADHD, aggression, descriptive psychopathology of child and adolescent disorders, and child and adolescent psychopharmacology, whose work spans both clinical and translational topics. Over the course of his career, he has published over 350 articles and book chapters on these and related subjects. Dr. Newcorn has received numerous awards for his work, including the Hulse Award for lifetime achievement from the New York Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2002), and the Elaine Schlosser Lewis Award for Research in Attention Deficit Disorder (2018). He was elected to the CHADD Hall of Fame in 2014
Dr. Newcorn is the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on several NIH-funded grants that examine the clinical, genetic, neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic basis of ADHD its treatment, as well as the neurobiological basis of substance abuse risk. He also directs an active clinical trials program, and has studied many of the recent medication treatments for ADHD. Dr. Newcorn is an internationally recognized educator and mentor, and is an editorial board member of several leading child psychiatry/psychology and psychopharmacology journals. He was a member of the steering committee of the NIMH-funded multicenter study “Multimodal Treatment of Children with ADHD (MTA)” and the DSM-IV advisory committees on child and adolescent disorders and disruptive behavior disorders. He was a founding member of the board of directors of the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD), and has served as President since 2020.
Anthony Rostain, MD
Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Cooper University Healthcare, Chair and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Dr. Rostain is a well-established leader in neurodevelopmental psychiatry, ADHD and related disorders, and college student mental health. His clinical focus is lifespan neurodevelopmental psychiatry, which includes caring for patients with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Tourette Syndrome, Learning Disabilities (verbal and nonverbal), Neurogenetic Disorders (e.g., Fragile X, Rett) and related social-emotional learning disorders. Dr. Rostain served as Vice Chair of Education for the Department of Psychiatry at Perelman School of Medicine from 1998-2017 and was Co-Chair of the University of Pennsylvania's Task Force on Student Psychological Health and Welfare from 2014-2016. Dr. Rostain was President of APSARD from 2011-2016 and Co-Chair of its Education Committee from 2016-2020. He currently serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the Tourette Association of America. Dr. Rostain is a member of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Transitional Age Youth and College Student Mental Health Committee and is one of AACAP’s representatives to the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance (HEMHA).
Dr. Rostain's research is focused on improving clinical outcomes for patients with neurodevelopmental disorders across the lifespan, and on creating effective service systems for these patients and their families. He has co-authored two books on adult ADHD (with J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D.) entitled The Adult ADHD Tool Kit: Using CBT to Facilitate Coping Inside and Out, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD: An Integrative Psychosocial and Medical Approach (Routledge, 2015). He is also co-author (with B. Janet Hibbs, Ph.D.) of The Stressed Years of Their Lives: Helping Your Kid Survive and Thrive During Their College Years (St. Martin’s Press, 2019).
About Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. The Company is focused on the development of new medications to help patients with CNS disorders. The Company’s lead investigational product candidate, ADAIR, is a novel abuse deterrent formulation of amphetamine immediate release being developed for the treatment of ADHD and narcolepsy.
For more information about the company, please visit www.vallon-pharma.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.
References and links to websites have been provided for convenience, and the information contained on any such website is not a part of, or incorporated by reference into, this press release. Vallon is not responsible for the contents of third-party websites.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” that are based on Vallon’s current expectations and subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including, without limitation, Vallon’s ability to execute its business plan, continue its growth and fund its ongoing business activities as planned, Vallon’s ability to develop and commercialize its product candidates, expectations related to results of clinical trials and studies, Vallon’s expectations with respect to the important advantages it believes its abuse-deterrent formulation of drugs have over similar drugs in the market and the growing need for abuse-deterrent formulations of drugs, Vallon’s ability to utilize the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, Vallon’s ability to obtain FDA approval of ADAIR and its other product candidates, and Vallon’s expectations with respect to its cash runway. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “target,” “aim,” “should,” "will,” “would,” or the negative of these words or other similar expressions. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Vallon’s Quarterly and Annual Reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.
Investor Contact:
JTC Team, LLC
Jenene Thomas
(833) 475-8247
vallon@jtcir.com
