Michael Scherz BS, PhD

Michael Scherz is an accomplished medicinal chemist with many years of experience in management of drug discovery and drug development. He completed his PhD synthetic-medicinal chemistry at the University of Oregon in 1989, followed by a post-doc at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland. In 1992, Michael joined Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a research chemist involved in cardiac research direct toward voltage-gate K+ channel inhibitors, matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, and phosphatase inhibitors, assuming roles of increasing responsibility in project leadership and department management. In 2000, Michael joined Actelion Pharmaceuticals in Basel, Switzerland, as vice president of chemistry, where he contributed to the discovery and development of urotensin II receptor antagonists, orexin receptor antagonists, and S1P1 receptor agonists. In 2004, he assumed the role of life cycle leader for early- and mid-stage drug development programs, leading large multi-disciplinary project teams through pre-clinical, Phase I and Phase II of clinical development. In 2013, Michael founded Metys Pharmaceuticals AG, and currently leads the company as its CEO. He has co-authored 17 peer-reviewed publications and is co-inventor on 18 issued patents.