PaxMedica, Inc. announced the return of David Hough, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of PaxMedica, effective immediately. Dr. Hough has been a key consultant to the company during 2023 and was the company?s CMO from 2020-2022. He is board-certified in both adult and geriatric psychiatry.

He succeeds Stefan Schwabe M.D., PhD, who will continue to serve on the PaxMedica Scientific Advisory Board. PaxMedica also announced additional changes to the management team and Board of Directors, all effective as of August 21, 2023. Michael Derby and Zachary Rome, Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, and co-founders of the company in 2018, will be relinquishing their operational roles on the management team in order to focus on their full-time responsibilities at Tardimed Sciences.

Mr. Rome will remain on the Board of Directors. Mr. Derby will remain as a consultant to PaxMedica. Howard Weisman, Chief Executive Officer of PaxMedica, has been appointed to the additional position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Stephen Sheldon has been appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer in addition to his position as Chief Financial Officer. Charles Casamento has been elected as Lead Independent Director of the Board of Directors. Dr. Hough is a neuroscience clinical development consultant who previously served as Vice President at Janssen Research and Development (a Johnson & Johnson company) and in various leadership roles over a 17-year span.

Most recently, Dr. Hough was the compound development team leader for SPRAVATO® for treatment-resistant depression, overseeing the development program through two severe mood disorders indications. He was responsible for medical, scientific, manufacturing, quality, preclinical, and commercial aspects of the program. Prior to that he was the schizophrenia disease area leader and the development team leader for paliperidone.

Dr. Hough played a pivotal role in the development programs for oral INVEGA®, INVEGA SUSTENNA® and XEPLION® for schizophrenia. Dr. Hough is a graduate of West Point and board certified in psychiatry.