Bernard Faller

Biography

My initial interest was in inhibitors of neutrophil elastase for the treatment of respiratory diseases. In 1991 I moved to Ciba-Geigy as a post-doctoral fellow and focused on enzyme kinetics of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. In 1995 I became head of laboratory at Ciba-Geigy (and then Novartis) responsible for physicochemical characterization of iron-chelating agents with the challenge to find orally-active iron chelators with good efficacy (binding properties) and acceptable safety margin. After the successful completion of the program, I focused on biochemical characterization of fatty-acid binding proteins and in 1999 moved to central technologies and established the foundations of the Novartis biopharmaceutical profiling group which addresses early ADME properties in drug discovery. In 2007 I was honored “Hero of Chemistry” by the ACS for the discovery of Exjade®, the first orally-active iron chelator for the treatment of transfusional iron overload. Since 2007 am working in the Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics platform. Since early 2012, I am leading the Discovery ADME Unit globally with teams in Basel (CH) and Cambridge (USA). The mission of the group is to support compound optimization for ADME related issues by providing appropriate assays and expertise. Over 1000 citations (Google Scholar).

Research Interest

Drug Discovery, Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Pharmacokinetics