Our Story
Amygdala Neurosciences, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is an independent small biopharmaceutical company founded in 2015 whose mission is to address the growing unmet need associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD) by discovering, developing, and commercializing safe and effective pharmacotherapies to treat addiction.
The company was formed based on technology discovered and developed by members of the companies’ leadership team while at CV Therapeutics and acquired from Gilead Sciences that targets the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase type 2 or ALDH2.
We are developing medications that can be taken orally to suppress the craving and relapse associated with alcohol and other substance use disorders.
Leadership Team
The management team is committed to the successful development of novel biotherapeutics for alcohol use disorders and has an extensive and highly successful track record of founding, growing companies from early discovery stage, development, and commercialization: CV Therapeutics – sold to Gilead Sciences, Cardiogen Sciences – merged with Audentes, which was subsequently sold to Astellas, Rapidscan Pharma Solutions (RPS Inc) – sold to General Electric Healthcare.
Combined, the members of the Amygdala BOD have discovered, developed, and gained regulatory approval of multiple drugs (e.g. Truvada®, Atripla®, Biktarvy®, Emtriva®, Sovaldi®, Viread®, Avonex®).
Brent Blackburn, PhD
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Ivan Diamond, MD, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer & Founder
Lou Lange, MD, PhD
Executive Chairman & Founder
Mack Mitchell, MD
Medical Advisor
Adrienne MacMillan
Chief Financial Officer & Founder
William Lee, PhD
Board of Directors
Peter Strumph
Board of Directors
Howard Jaffe, MD
Board of Directors