NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (“BTI”) (Nasdaq: BTAI), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical development company utilizing novel artificial intelligence (“AI”) approaches to identify the next wave of medicines across neuroscience and immuno-oncology, today announced the appointment of Dr. Chetan D. Lathia as Senior Vice President and Head, Translational Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology and Regulatory Affairs; effective immediately.

Dr. Vimal Mehta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BTI, commented, “Over the last several months, we have developed our corporate infrastructure through a number of key strategic hires, and we are pleased that Dr. Lathia has joined BTI. He has over 28 years of experience in clinical pharmacology, nonclinical development, and regulatory affairs at both large and small biopharma companies. He has made an immediate impact in shaping and implementing the regulatory strategy for our lead clinical programs and has begun evaluating our emerging preclinical candidates.”

“By combining AI and drug development expertise in neuroscience and oncology, BioXcel Therapeutics has significant potential to accelerate the development of promising drug candidates to improve clinical outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Lathia. “I am very excited to be working with the BTI team. I look forward to leading nonclinical development, clinical pharmacology, regulatory strategy & global regulatory interactions that support our two lead clinical programs as well as the product pipeline.”

Dr. Lathia has co-led the IND submissions for a number of new molecular entities and eight new drug applications (NDA) / biologics license application (BLA) in the US, Europe, Japan, China, etc. In addition to presenting clinical pharmacology & clinical strategy at meetings with drug regulators, he has made presentations to the Special Advisory Group (SAG) of the European Medicines Agency and an advisory meeting held by Taiwanese regulators. Dr. Lathia has delivered presentations to the Food and Drug Administration on invitation from the agency's Office of Clinical Pharmacology.

Most recently, Dr. Lathia served as the VP and Head of Clinical Pharmacology at Intarcia Therapeutics where he was responsible for leading the pharmacokinetics (PK)/pharmacodynamics (PD), immunogenicity and bioanalytical strategy. Prior to that, Dr. Lathia served as the Executive Director, Clinical Pharmacology at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he led the global clinical and nonclinical PK/PD, pharmacometrics, and bioanalytics functions. Previously, Dr. Lathia served as the Global Head, Oncology Biomarkers and Pharmacokinetics and as the Global Clinical Pharmacology Leader for Nexavar at Bayer. Prior to this he was a Senior Research Associate at Parke-Davis Research where he co-led drug metabolism, nonclinical & clinical PK functions for the oncology & cardiovascular portfolio.

Dr. Lathia earned a doctorate in pharmacokinetics from Virginia Commonwealth University and a bachelor’s in pharmacy, with a gold medal in pharmacology from L M College of Pharmacy, India.

About BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc.:
BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on drug development that utilizes novel artificial intelligence approaches to identify the next wave of medicines across neuroscience and immuno-oncology. The Company's drug re-innovation approach leverages existing approved drugs and/or clinically validated product candidates together with big data and proprietary machine learning algorithms to identify new therapeutic indices. The Company's two most advanced clinical development programs are BXCL501, a sublingual thin film formulation designed for acute treatment of agitation resulting from neurological and psychiatric disorders, and BXCL701, an immuno-oncology agent designed for treatment of a rare form of prostate cancer and for treatment of pancreatic cancer. For more information, please visit www.bioxceltherapeutics.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to the advancement and development of BXCL701, the commencement of clinical trials, the availability of data from clinical trials and other information that is not historical information. When used herein, words such as “anticipate”, “being”, “will”, “plan”, “may”, “continue”, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements or information that refer to expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, performance or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking. All forward-looking statements are based upon BioXcel’s current expectations and various assumptions. BioXcel believes there is a reasonable basis for its expectations and beliefs, but they are inherently uncertain. BioXcel may not realize its expectations, and its beliefs may not prove correct. Actual results could differ materially from those described or implied by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including, without limitation, market conditions and the factors described under the caption “Risk Factors” in BioXcel’s 10 Q for the Quarter ended June 30, 2018 and BioXcel’s other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consequently, forward-looking statements should be regarded solely as BioXcel’s current plans, estimates and beliefs. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BioXcel cannot guarantee future results, events, levels of activity, performance or achievements. BioXcel does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to update, republish, or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrences of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

Contact Information:
The Ruth Group
Lee Roth / Janhavi Mohite
646-536-7012 / 7026
[email protected] / [email protected]