John Alam, MD

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

EIP Pharma; LLC; Cambridge; MA; USA

Areas of Interest: 

p38 MAPK alpha and other CNS kinases, inflammation induced synaptic dysfunction, Alzheimer's disease translational research

Biography & Research: 

John Alam MD is Founder and CEO of EIP Pharma, LLC, a boston-area private biotechnology company that is developing an oral small molecule highly selective inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activate protein kinase alpha (MAPKα) phase for Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alam received a S.B. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a M.D. from Northwestern University School of Medicine. Subsequently, he completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Until May 2014, he was therapeutic area head for diseases of aging within Sanofi R&D. In that role he led all R&D activities at Sanofi directed at Alzheimer’s disease, as well as number of other age-related diseases (Sarcopenia/Frailty, Osteoarthritis, Chronic Pain, others). Previously, from 1997 until 2008 he held positions of increasingly responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Medicines Development. At Vertex, he played major roles in the development of novel innovative medicines for HIV, Hepatitis C and Cystic Fibrosis. And, from 1991 to 1997, at Biogen, Inc, he led the clinical development of Avonex (interferon beta-1a) for multiple sclerosis. Starting with his time at Biogen, he has had continuing interest and engagement in inflammation research, particularly in relation to the innate immune system. At Vertex, he led multiple translational/clinical projects from from pre-clinical through to clinical POC studies directed at p38 MAPK and at interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (aka caspace-1). In addition he was on the Joint Research and Steering Committees of a broad multi-target 5-year research collaboration between Vertex and Novartis on kinases; in which a number of the kinase targets were inflammation-related, both within and outside the CNS. Dr. Alam is also on the board of directors for Alliance for Aging Research, a Washington DC based non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating scientific discoveries related to the aging process and their application; and was previously on the Board of Trustees of Accelerated Cure Project (Waltham MA), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing research on understanding underlying causes/drivers of multiple sclerosis.