Principal for Drug Discovery & Medicinal Chemistry
James Leahy, Ph.D.
Asha's Drug Discovery Program is lead by Dr. James Leahy, credited with 3 FDA approved cancer drugs in the USA and 1 Japanese FDA approved drug in Japan for Hypertension with Daiichi Sankyo.
Co-inventor of the FDA approved drug Cabozantinibâ„¢, marketed worldwide as Cabometyxâ„¢, Cometriqâ„¢, Cobimetinibâ„¢ and Minnebroâ„¢, approved by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) of Japan.
Director of Chemistry at MetaXen, bought by Exelixis, and where he subsequently served as the Senior Director of Chemistry.Â
Advanced more than a dozen compounds into human clinical trials.
Named inventor on 22 issued US patents and well as multiple international patents.
Authored over 45 primary research publications.
3 of the drugs to which he contributed while at Exelixis are FDA approved cancer drugs with sales of over $1.0B annually.