~ Dr. Summers brings more than three decades of drug discovery and pharmaceutical research management experience, including the advancement of more than 20 compounds into clinical development ~

Nine Square Therapeutics, a biotechnology company uniting machine-learning enabled image-based cell profiling, chemistry and computational sciences to discover novel small molecules to treat severe neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of James B. Summers, Ph.D., to the company’s board of directors and its scientific advisory board.

“Dr. Summers is an accomplished neuroscience leader and researcher who has successfully led global research organizations and championed multiple productive licensing deals, biotech collaborations and venture investments,” said Robert Paul, chief executive officer of Nine Square Therapeutics. “We are honored to have him join our board of directors and scientific advisory council to help advance our diversified portfolio of ​first-in-class drug candidates for genetically validated targets on the autophagy/lysosomal pathway into the clinic.”

During more than 30 years with Abbott and AbbVie, Dr. Summers held various senior R&D leadership positions, including vice president of neuroscience research, where he led efforts located in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Lake County, IL and Cambridge, MA, focused on the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, pain and psychiatric disorders. Under his leadership, the teams advanced more than 20 compounds into clinical development. Currently Dr. Summers serves as a board member and advisor to several biotechnology companies. He is also a venture partner with the Dementia Discovery Fund. Dr. Summers earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Denison University and a Doctorate in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University.

“Boosting autophagy to address genetically validated but previously undruggable targets presents an incredibly exciting opportunity to address the longstanding challenges of treating severe neurodegenerative diseases,” said Dr. Summers. “I am pleased to join this esteemed interdisciplinary team of scientists and biotech leaders at Nine Square. Together, we will advance our programs towards IND-enabling studies and into clinical development, offering new hope for patients and the neuroscience community."

About Nine Square Therapeutics

Nine Square Therapeutics is a biotechnology company integrating phenotypic cell profiling, chemistry and computational sciences in a quest to alter the trajectory of neurodegenerative disease. Founded by life sciences venture capital firm Apple Tree Partners (ATP) and renowned scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Nine Square’s goal is to discover better drugs, faster. The company’s platform is currently focused on boosting autophagy/mitophagy, the body’s own cellular degrading machinery, with programs initially focused on Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and lysosomal storage diseases.

For more information, visit: www.ninesquaretx.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.

Tara Cooper The Grace Communication Group tara@gracegroup.us 650-303-7306