Melbourne, Oct. 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neuroscience technology company, Cogstate Ltd (ASX.CGS), announced today the appointment of Chris Edgar, PhD as Chief Science Officer and Prof. Paul Maruff, PhD as Chief Innovation Officer. These appointments represent an expansion of the executive leadership team with strengthened scientific capacity as the company continues to meet the growing demand for transformative innovations in clinical trials and healthcare.

As Chief Science Officer, Dr. Edgar will continue to advise Cogstate customers on clinical endpoint strategy and will set the strategic vision for Cogstates global scientific services. He will lead a team of clinical experts focused on the optimization, execution and analyses of cognitive and behavioral assessments and related data quality assurance solutions for improved signal detection and excellence in trial design and conduct.

Moving into the newly created role of Chief Innovation Officer, Prof. Maruff will lead efforts to continue to refine existing Cogstate technologies as well as identifying and developing novel methods for assessment of cognition and behaviour. He will continue to oversee Cogstate relationships supporting innovation and development with partners from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and with key industry and academic groups central to the scientific advancements of Cogstate technologies.

Adding scientific strength to the Cogstate leadership team will further position us for this current phase of growth as we continue to see increasing demand for strong, stable delivery supported by rapid, robust innovation, said Brad OConnor, Cogstate CEO. Among the current opportunities for the company are awards in late phase global clinical trial programs, the increased need for remote data collection and smart-phone based assessment, as well as rapidly evolving needs in healthcare for early detection of cognitive impairment. Dr. Edgars experience in pharmaceutical and contract research organizations brings an enormous depth to our drug development expertise and measurement science excellence in clinical trials. With his expertise, Paul can re-double his efforts to bring forward new strategies for measuring disease-related and treatment-related changes in cognition, remaining at the center of innovation at Cogstate.

About Chris Edgar

Dr. Chris Edgar is an experienced leader in cognitive assessment and clinical endpoint strategy who provides expert guidance to Cogstates pharmaceutical customers throughout all stages of trial conduct, from study design and test selection through final analysis. Dr. Edgar is also a key advisor to Cogstates commercial and product teams for the application of new technologies and approaches aligned with industry needs. Prior to joining Cogstate as Senior Vice President, Clinical Science in 2018, Dr. Edgar oversaw clinical endpoint strategy for multiple neuroscience indications in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research group at Roche. He holds a PhD in psychopharmacology from Northumbria University and has nearly two decades of pharmaceutical industry experience. Dr. Edgar has held other key industry positions including Clinical Scientist at Roche on Schizophrenia and Alzheimers disease drug development programs, Senior Clinical Lead for rater training and data quality at Bracket, and Scientific Director at Cognitive Drug Research Ltd., a computerized cognitive assessment company.

About Paul Maruff

Professor Paul Maruff is one of the founders of Cogstate and served as Chief Science Officer before taking on the role of Chief Innovation Officer. He is a neuropsychologist with expertise in the identification and measurement of subtle behavioral and cognitive dysfunction. Prof. Maruffs research integrates conventional and computerized neuropsychological testing with cognitive neuroscientific methods to guide decision making in drug development and in clinical medicine. He has worked extensively on methods to identify subtle neurocognitive impairmentand to assess the efficacy of pharmacological treatmentin Alzheimers disease, mild cognitive impairment and the HIV dementia complex. He has extended this approach to identify cognitive dysfunction and monitor treatment efficacy in psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression in adults, attention deficit disorder, developmental dyspraxia and substance abuse in children. Paul remains an active researcher; he is appointed Professor at the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, and he is currently clinical co-chair of the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study. Paul has published over 450 research articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and has co-authored 15 book chapters.

About Cogstate

Cogstate Ltd (ASX:CGS) is a neuroscience technology company optimizing brain health assessments to advance the development of new medicines and to enable earlier clinical insights in healthcare. Cogstate technologies provide rapid, reliable and highly sensitive computerized cognitive tests across a growing list of domains and support electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA) solutions to replace costly and error-prone paper assessments with real-time data capture. The companys clinical trials solutions include quality assurance services for study endpoints that combine innovative operational approaches, advanced analytics and scientific consulting. For 20 years, Cogstate has proudly supported the leading-edge research needs of biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions and the clinical care needs of physicians and patients around the world. In the Healthcare market, in August 2019 Cogstate entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with pharmaceutical company Eisai, under which Eisai will market Cogstate technologies as digital cognitive assessment tools in Japanese markets. The product, branded as NouKNOW, launched in Japan on 31 March 2020 (nouknow.jp). To learn more, visit:http://www.cogstate.com/.

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Cogstate Expands Executive Team with Key Scientific Appointments - GlobeNewswire