Dr. Varney is the Chief Scientific Officer of PsychoGenics, a preclinical CRO with expertise in CNS and orphan disorders. He leads the company’s drug discovery and development efforts. He has more than 30 years of experience in drug discovery, clinical development, and executive leadership positions in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Varney co-founded Neurolixis, a company focused on the discovery and development of novel drugs for the treatment of CNS diseases and served as CEO for eight years. Before founding Neurolixis, he was CEO for Cortex Pharmaceuticals (now RespireRx Pharmaceuticals). Earlier on, he held senior-level R&D positions with Sepracor (now Sunovion), Bionomics, and Merck.
Dr. Varney’s career has focused on drug discovery and clinical programs for treating schizophrenia, depression, cognitive disorders, anxiety, pain, epilepsy and insomnia. He has been successful in developing drug candidates in several of these disease areas and has published over 75 peer-reviewed scientific papers and filed numerous patent applications relating to new chemical entities and methods of use. He received his Ph.D. and post-doctoral training in Pharmacology from Oxford University, UK.