Annexon, Inc. announced that Dean ‘Rick' Artis, Ph.D., has been appointed as chief scientific officer (CSO), succeeding Larry C. Mattheakis, Ph.D. Dr. Artis most recently served as CSO at Octant Bio and earlier, led efforts at Annexon for the discovery of the company's small molecule classical complement inhibitors, including ANX1502. As CSO of Annexon, Dr. Artis will be responsible for leading all research efforts, with a particular emphasis on the expansion of small molecule research and the further building of the company's robust pipeline. Prior to his most recent role as CSO at Octant, Dr. Artis served as senior vice president, chemistry at Annexon, senior vice president, research at Elan Pharmaceuticals, vice president, lead generation at Plexxikon and held positions of increasing responsibility at Genentech and Syntex.

He has been responsible for efforts from target validation and screening to early development and has discovery-to-clinic experience in several therapeutic areas, including neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases and oncology. He has led efforts at the forefront of fragment-based drug discovery and is a co-inventor of the first drug derived from these approaches, vemurafenib for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. He has co-authored over 45 papers, been recognized as a co-inventor on 45 issued U.S. patents and made direct contributions to seven molecules that have reached various stages of clinical development, including two that have received marketing approval.

He received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University.