John Renger, Ph.D., Appointed to Libra’s Scientific Advisory Board
SAN DIEGO, April 15, 2022 – Libra Therapeutics, Inc., a private biotech developing novel therapeutics to restore cellular balance and stop neurodegeneration, today announced the appointment of John Renger, Ph.D., to the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Renger has more than 20 years of experience in leading teams and clinical strategy for neuroscience drug development, bringing more than 40 drug candidates into clinical development for a range of nervous system diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases and motor symptoms of essential tremor, among others.
Dr. Renger served as Chief Scientific Officer of Cerevel Therapeutics from 2019 until its acquisition by Abbvie in 2024. Prior to joining Cerevel, Dr. Renger was Vice President of Research and Development and Regulatory Affairs at Imbrium Therapeutics L.P., where he led the company’s overall scientific direction and clinical development strategy. Previous to that, he served 15 years at Merck & Co., and in the role of Associate Vice President he led therapeutic target acceleration and translational capabilities for the company’s neuroscience programs. At Merck, he initiated a translational electroencephalogram sleep research lab that was instrumental in the discovery, development, and ultimate regulatory approval of Belsomra® (suvorexant), a first-in-class orexin receptor antagonist, in both the United States and Japan.
Prior to Merck, Dr. Renger was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Learning and Memory and, previous to that, was a Staff Scientist at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan. Dr. Renger earned his Ph.D. in biological sciences with a focus on neurogenetics at the University of Iowa, where he also completed his B.S. in biology. He has published more than 142 peer-reviewed articles and serves on the multiple boards of directors and scientific advisory boards.
About Libra Therapeutics
Libra Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing novel disease-modifying therapeutics to restore disrupted cellular balance in lysosome function and autophagy with the potential to slow the disease progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Libra’s therapeutic platform is uniquely positioned to discover and develop novel small molecule drugs that can both increase autophagy to more rapidly clear toxic proteins and dysfunctional machinery, as well as reduce the production of neurotoxic proteins. The Company’s lead program targets TRPML1, a regulator of autophagy and lysosome function, and Libra is advancing additional small molecule programs for C9orf72 transcriptional modification and Ran translation inhibition. For more information, visit www.libratherapeutics.com.
Contacts:
Company: Isaac Veinbergs, Ph.D., info@libratherapeutics.com
Media: Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., Little Dog Communications, jessica@litldog.com, +1.858.344.8091
