Kenneth Koblan, PhD

Kenneth Koblan, PhD, has over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and development across neuroscience and other therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Slate, Dr. Koblan served as Head of Research & Development at Vesalius Therapeutics. Before Vesalius, he spent 13 years at Sumitomo Pharma America (formerly Sunovion), where he served as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Development Operations, pioneering the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for rare disease modeling and cell-based therapeutics and leading development programs for novel central nervous system medicines. Earlier in his career, Dr. Koblan held senior scientific leadership positions at Merck Research Laboratories and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. At Merck, he contributed to the development of GARDASIL®, JANUVIA®, and BELSOMRA®, the first approved orexin receptor antagonist, and led the discovery of telcagepant, and its backup compounds UBRELVY® and QULIPTA®, establishing clinical proof of concept for oral CGRP antagonism and helping pioneer the gepant class for migraine. At Alnylam, where he served as Chief Scientific Officer, he led the “5×15” rare disease initiative and contributed to the development of ONPATTRO®, the first approved RNA-interference medicine. Dr. Koblan has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and 192 patent applications. In 2022, he was elected to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University and a BS in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.