Artak Tovmasyan, PhD

Dr. Artak Tovmasyan received his PhD Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia. He then completed his postdoctoral studies in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical School. He has over 15 years of research experience in drug design and development in the field of free radical biology and medicine and in particular design of SOD mimics for anticancer therapy and radioprotection. His research resulted in 55 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, and over 90 presentations and invited talks at national meetings and international conferences in the United States and outside. He has also co-authored several book chapters with J Wiley and Springer Publishing Companies and served as ad-hoc reviewer to numerous journals.

During his postdoctoral years at Duke University Dr. Tovmasyan was involved in the development of new redox-active metalloporphyrins with high SOD-like potency, low systemic toxicity and remarkable efficacy in oxidative stress related disorders, such as radiation injuries, cancer, CNS disorders, and diabetes. He has developed methods to evaluate the accumulation and distribution of SOD-mimics in targeted tissues/organs and studied the pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles of the lead compounds. Dr. Tovmasyan has revealed the mechanisms involved in the therapeutic action of SOD mimics through detailed analyses of reaction kinetics and cellular redoxome/proteome by HPLC and LCMS/MS techniques.

Dr. Tovmasyan is a co-developer of an early generation SOD mimic, BMX-001, which is now in four Phase I/II Clinical Trials (NCT03386500, NCT03608020, NCT02990468, and NCT02655601; supported by STTR/NIH) as a radio-protector of normal tissues with glioma, head and neck, and anal cancer patients. Over the last two years he has further designed a new class of fluorinated metalloporphyrins of 4th generation with outstanding safety/toxicity profile and catalytic potency. The compounds are currently being tested in prostate cancer to reduce the radiation-induced normal tissue damage.

Dr. Tovmasyan holds co-authorship in 8 patents, patent applications, and invention disclosures. He is a Principal Investigator at the Ivy Brain Tumor Center.  As the leader of our Pharmacokinetic Program, Dr. Tovmasyan will be involved in the early-phase clinical trials and with his expertise in pharmaceutical sciences help identify the most effective therapies for brain tumor treatment.