Bionomics scores with new appointment

Former Merck Research Laboratories director of neuropharmacology Dr Mark Varney has joined Adelaide company Bionomics as VP of drug discovery, where he will lead the company's epilepsy and central nervous system drug discovery program.

Bionomics CEO Dr Deborah Rathjen described Varney's background as "heavy duty drug development."

"We're going to benefit enormously from his experience," she said. "His expertise will help us build our drug discovery programs and rapidly transform hits emerging from our high-throughput screening into proprietary lead candidates."

Varney has had a long history working on neuroscience within the biopharmaceutical industry, including positions at French pharmaceutical company Servier, where he performed research to identify drug candidates for neurological diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. More recently, he worked for SIBIA Neurosciences, a California-based biotech company, later acquired by Merck Research Laboratories.

Among his tasks at Bionomics will be industrialisation of IonX, the company's proprietary ion channel drug discovery platform, Rathjen said. Earlier this year, Bionomics was awarded an R&D START grant of $AUD2.9 million to develop its drug discovery program for central nervous system disorders including epilepsy.

Rathjen said Varney was appointed after an international search conducted by the company.