qed@qb3-UCSF: Killing Pain with Killer Snails: The Development of the Analgesic, PRIALT®

Dr. George Miljanich has been developing ion channel therapeutics, analgesics, and peptide-based therapeutics for more than 20 years. As CEO at AIRMID, he leads the development of T-cell potassium channel blockers to treat autoimmune disorders. Prior to AIRMID, he was Senior Director at Elan Pharmaceuticals, playing a key role in the clinical development, regulatory approval, and commercialization of the analgesic, PRIALT® (ziconotide.) Dr. Miljanich holds a BS and PhD in Chemistry from UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz,
respectively, and conducted post-doctoral research at UCSF with Prof. Regis Kelly. On the faculty at USC, he studied calcium channels and channel-blocking conotoxins, then translated them into pharmaceuticals at Neurex Corp., contributing to the development of PRIALT from invention through Phase III trials. With the acquisition of Neurex, he became head of analgesia research at Elan. Dr. Miljanich has authored numerous scientic publications and is an inventor on 15 U.S. patents. He serves as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, is Vice President of the Toxinomics Foundation, and a member of the CONCO initiative.