Kemal Payza, Ph.D.
NEOMED Institute, 7171 Frédérick-Banting, St. Laurent, Québec H4S 1Z9, Canada
Tel: 514-260-1079 Email: kpayza@neomed.ca
Overview

18 years of knowledge and experience in the drug discovery process
 Contributions to 17 Candidate Drugs, most advanced in Phase II
 Lead Generation and Lead Optimization projects, Portfolio Management

Experience in directing the pharmacological characterization of new compounds:
 Molecular and In Vitro Pharmacology
 Design and selection of assay systems and testing cascades to assess potency, selectivity and efficacy
 Mechanistic and quantitative pharmacology studies to aid translation of preclinical activity to man

Experience of interactions with senior decision making bodies and business plan preparations
Experience
11/07– present
Project Director
NEOMED Institute, St-Laurent, Québec, Canada
I am responsible for directing the progression of the NMD5024 project, as well as evaluating and leading the
development of a number of early stage projects that will be selected from among NEOMED’s partnering opportunities.
10/07– 06/12
Director, Montreal Discovery Portfolio
AstraZeneca R&D Montréal, St-Laurent, Québec, Canada
I managed the portfolio of drug discovery projects based in Montreal and participated in the evaluation and prioritization
of all CNS & Pain projects in AstraZeneca. My main responsibilities were to provide critical judgment and advice to
support project progression, ensure that projects are adequately resourced to meet delivery objectives, and contribute to
managing internal and external resources. I also contributed to the evaluation of external in-licensing opportunities.
05/03 – 10/07
Director, Department of Molecular Pharmacology
AstraZeneca R&D Montréal, St-Laurent, Québec, Canada
I headed the Molecular Pharmacology Department, Directed all Lead Generation and Target Identification projects, and
contributed to AZ teams on Lead Generation, Lead Optimization, Analgesia Strategy, and Portfolio Management.
01/00 – 04/03
Associate Director, Department of Pharmacology
AstraZeneca R&D Montréal, St-Laurent, Québec, Canada
01/97 – 12/99
Assistant Director, Department of Pharmacology
Astra Research Centre Montréal, St-Laurent, Québec, Canada
07/94 - 12/96
Research Scientist, Department of Pharmacology
Astra Pain Research Unit, Laval, Québec, Canada
I established the In Vitro Pharmacology Group, contributed to founding the new research center, created new assays
(radioligand binding & functional), and built a highly skilled team to characterize new compounds at drug targets.
03/91 - 06/94
Staff Fellow, Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics
NIMH Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC 20032
I characterized CNS receptors for Neuropeptide FF (NPFF), a neuropeptide that modulates analgesia.
01/88 - 02/91
IRTA Fellow, Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology
NICHD, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
I investigated stimulus-secretion and the modulation of secretion by neuropeptides.
1
Kemal Payza, Ph.D.
NEOMED Institute, 7171 Frédérick-Banting, St. Laurent, Québec H4S 1Z9, Canada
Tel: 514-260-1079 Email: kpayza@neomed.ca
Education
01/84 - 12/87
University of Florida, Gainesville
Ph.D., Pharmacology and Therapeutics, April 1988
01/81 - 07/83
Middle East Technical University, Ankara
M.Sc., Marine Science, July 1983
09/76 - 12/80
State University of New York at Binghamton
B.Sc., Biochemistry, May 1981
Scholarships and Awards
S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton Foundation (1976)
New York State Regents (1976-1980)
NIH Intramural Research Training Award (1988-1991)
Book Chapter
Payza K. (2003) Binding and activity of opioid ligands at the cloned human delta, mu, and kappa receptors. In:
“The Delta Receptor”, K.-J. Chang, F. Porreca and J. H. Woods, Eds. Pub. Marcel Dekker, New York: 261-275.
Link to publication
Patent
“A peptide analog of Neuropeptide FF” (with D.H. Malin) US Patent No. 5,908,832 (granted June 1, 1999)
Scientific Journal Articles
1.
Cantin LD, Bayrakdarian M, Buon C, Grazzini E, Hu YJ, Labrecque J, Leung C, Luo X, Martino G, Paré M, Payza
K, Popovic N, Projean D, Santhakumar V, Walpole C, Yu XH, Tomaszewski MJ (2012). Discovery of P2X3
selective antagonists for the treatment of chronic pain. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 22(7):2565-71.
2.
Cheng YX, Pourashraf M, Luo X, Srivastava S, Walpole C, Salois D, St-Onge S, Payza K, Lessard E, Yu XH,
Tomaszewski MJ (2012). γ-Carbolines: a novel class of cannabinoid agonists with high aqueous solubility and
restricted CNS penetration. Bioorg Med Chem Lett, 22(4):1619-24
3.
Hudzik TJ, Maciag C, Smith MA, Caccese R, Pietras MR, Bui KH, Coupal M, Adam L, Payza K, Griffin A,
Smagin G, Song D, Swedberg M, and Brown B (2011). Preclinical pharmacology of AZD2327 - a highly selective
agonist of the δ opioid receptor. J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 338(1):195-204.
4.
Page, D., Wei, Z. Y., Liu, Z., Tremblay, M., Desfossés, H., Milburn, C., Srivastava, S., Yang, H., Brown, W.,
Walpole, C., Tomaszewski, M., St Onge, S., Lessard, E., Payza, K., Panetta, R., Yu, X. H., and Groblewski, T
(2010). 5-Sulfonamide benzimidazoles: A class of cannabinoid receptors agonists with potent in vivo
antinociception activity. Letters in Drug Design & Discovery: 7(3): 208-213.
5.
Dockendorff C, Jin S, Olsen M, Lautens M, Coupal M, Hodzic L, Spear N, Payza K, Walpole C, Tomaszewski MJ.
(2009). Discovery of mu-opioid selective ligands derived from 1-aminotetralin scaffolds made via metal-catalyzed
ring-opening reactions. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 19: 1228–1232.
2
Kemal Payza, Ph.D.
NEOMED Institute, 7171 Frédérick-Banting, St. Laurent, Québec H4S 1Z9, Canada
Tel: 514-260-1079 Email: kpayza@neomed.ca
6.
Liu JJ. Payza K. Huang J. Liu R. Chen T. Coupal M. Laird JM. Cao CQ. Butterworth J. Lapointe S. Bayrakdarian
M. Trivedi S. Bostwick JR (2009). Discovery and pharmacological characterization of a small-molecule antagonist
at neuromedin U receptor NMUR2. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 330(1):268-75.
7.
Pagé D, Balaux E, Boisvert L, Liu Z, Milburn C, Tremblay M, Wei Z, Woo S, Luo X, Cheng YX, Yang H,
Srivastava S, Zhou F, Brown W, Tomaszewski M, Walpole C, Hodzic L, St-Onge S, Godbout C, Salois D, Payza
K. (2008). Novel benzimidazole derivatives as selective CB2 agonists. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 18(13):3695-700.
8.
Hanessian S., Parthasarathy S., Mauduit M., Payza K. (2003) The power of visual imagery in drug design.
Isopavines as a new class of morphinomimetics and their human opioid receptor binding activity. J. Med Chem.
46(1): 34-48.
9.
Lembo P.M.C., Grazzini E., Groblewski T., O'Donnell D., Roy M.-O., Zhang J., Hoffert C., Cao J., Schmidt R.,
Pelletier M., Labarre M., Gosselin M., Fortin Y., Banville D., Shen S.H., Ström P., Payza K., Dray A., Walker P.
and Ahmad S. (2002) Proenkephalin A gene products activate a new family of sensory neuron-specific GPCRs.
Nature Neuroscience 19 February, DOI:10.1038/nn815.
10. Ma X. Tong YG. Schmidt R. Brown W. Payza K. Hodzic L. Pou C. Godbout C. Hokfelt T. Xu ZQ. (2001) Effects
of galanin receptor agonists on locus coeruleus neurons. Brain Res. 919(1): 169-174.
11. Liu H-X., Brumovsky P., Schmidt R., Brown W., Payza K., Hodzic L., Pou C., Godbout C., and Hokfelt T. (2001)
Receptor subtype-specific pronociceptive and analgesic actions of galanin in the spinal cord: Selective actions via
GalR1 and GalR2 receptors. PNAS 98(17): 9960-9964.
12. Page D. Naismith A. Schmidt R. Coupal M. Labarre M. Gosselin M. Bellemare D. Payza K. Brown W. (2001)
Novel C-terminus modifications of the Dmt-Tic motif: a new class of dipeptide analogues showing altered
pharmacological profiles toward the opioid receptors. J. Med Chem. 44(15):2387-90.
13. Plobeck N., Delorme D., Wei J., Yang H., Zhou F., Schwarz P., Gawell L., Gagnon H., Pelcman B., Schmidt R.,
Yue S.-Y., Labarre M., Payza K., St-Onge S., Kamassah A., Morin P.-E., Projean D., Ducharme J. and Roberts E.
(2000) New diarylmethylpiperazines as potent and selective nonpeptidic delta opioid receptor agonists. J. Med
Chem. 43: 3878-3894.
14. Wei Z-Y., Brown W., Takasaki B., Plobeck N., Delorme D., Zhou F., Yang H., Jones P., Gawell L., Gagnon H.,
Schmidt R., Yue S-Y., Walpole C., Payza K., St-Onge S., Labarre M., Godbout C., Jakob A., Butterworth J.,
Kamassah A., Morin P-E., Projean D., Ducharme J. and Roberts E. (2000) N,N-Diethyl-4-(phenyl-piperidine-4ylidene-methyl)-benzamide and its Analogs: A Novel Class of Exceptionally Selective, Potent Opioid Receptor
Agonists with Oral Bioavailablity. J. Med Chem. 43, 3895-3905.
15. Labarre M., Butterworth J., St-Onge S., Payza K., Schmidhammer H, Salvadori S., Balboni G., Guerrini R., Bryant
S.D. and Lazarus L.H. (2000) Inverse agonism by Dmt-Tic analogues and HS 378, a naltrindole analogue.
European Journal of Pharmacology 46: R1-R3.
16. Hudzik TJ., Howell A., Payza K. and Cross AJ. (2000) Antiparkinson potential of delta-opioid receptor agonists.
European Journal of Pharmacology. 396(2-3):101-107.
17. Pagé D., McClory A., Mischki T., Schmidt R., Butterworth J., St-Onge S., Labarre M., Payza K. and Brown W.
(2000) Novel Dmt-Tic Dipeptide Analogues as Selective Delta-Opioid Receptor Antagonists. Bioorg Med Chem
Lett 10(2): 167-170.
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Kemal Payza, Ph.D.
NEOMED Institute, 7171 Frédérick-Banting, St. Laurent, Québec H4S 1Z9, Canada
Tel: 514-260-1079 Email: kpayza@neomed.ca
18. Lembo P.M.C., Grazzini E., Cao J., Hubatsch D., Pelletier M., Hoffert C., St-Onge S., Pou C., Labrecque J.,
Groblewski T., O’Donnell D., Payza K., Ahmad S. and Walker P. (1999) The receptor for orexigenic peptide
melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a G-protein coupled receptor. Nature Cell Biology 1(5): 267-271.
19. Borg S., Vollinga R.C., Labarre M., Payza K., Terenius L. and Luthman K. (1999) Design, synthesis, and
evaluation of Phe-Gly mimetics: Heterocyclic building blocks for pseudopeptides. J Med Chem 42(21):4331-4342.
20. Fraser G.L., Labarre M., Godbout C., Butterworth J., Clarke P.B.S., Payza K. and Schmidt R. (1999)
Characterization of [125I]AR-M100613, a high affinity radioligand for delta receptors. Peptides 20: 1327-1335.
21. Schmidt R., Carpenter K., Yue S.-Y., Brown W., Roberts E., Godbout C., Hodzic L., Pou C., Payza K., Morin P.-E.
and Ducharme J. (1999) "Linear and cyclic Galanin(1-16)-NH2 analogues: Structure-Activity Relationships,
Metabolic Stability, and Conformational Analysis." Peptides 1998: Proceedings of the 25th European Peptide
Symposium” August 30-September 4. Eds. S. Bajusz and F. Hudecz. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó Press. p.744-745.
22. Carpenter K.A., Schmidt R., Yue S-Y, Hodzic L., Pou C., Godbout C., Payza K., Brown W. and Edward Roberts.
(1999) The glycine1 residue in cyclic lactam analogues of galanin(1-16)-NH2 is important for stabilizing an Nterminal helix. Biochemistry 38(46): 15295-15304.
23. Ahmad S., O’Donnell D., Payza K., Ducharme J., Ménard D., Brown W., Schmidt R., Wahlestedt C., Shen S.H.
and Walker P. (1998) Cloning and evaluation of the role of rat GALR-2, a novel subtype of galanin receptor, in the
control of pain perception. Annals of the N.Y. Academy of Sciences 863: 108-119.
24. Cao J., O’Donnell D., Vu H., Payza K., Pou C., Godbout C., Jakob A., Pelletier M., Lembo P., Ahmad S. and
Walker P. (1998) Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding a novel subtype of rat thyrotropin-releasing
hormone receptor. Journal of Biological Chemistry 48(27): 32281-32287.
25. Schmidt R., Payza K., St-Onge S., LaBarre M., Chung N.N., Roberts E. and Schiller P.W. “Structureagonist/antagonist relationships of cyclic casomorphin analogs modified in different positions.” Peptides 1996:
Proceedings of 24th European Peptide Symposium. Edinburgh, 1998. Eds. R. Rampage and R. Epton. p.789-790.
26. Heyliger, S.O., Payza, K. and Rothman, R.B. (1998) The effect of FMRFamide analogs on GTP[]35S stimulation
in squid optic lobes. Peptides 19: 739-747.
27. Feigenbaum J. J., Choubal M. D., Crumrine D. S., Kanofsky J. R. and Payza K. (1996) Receptor inactivation by
dye-neuropeptide conjugates. 3. Comparative binding of dye-neuropeptide conjugates to FMRFamide receptors of
Helix aspersa and Loligo pealei. Peptides 17: 1279-1284.
28. Feigenbaum J.J., Choubal M.D., Payza K., Kanofsky J.R. and Crumrine D.S. (1996) Receptor inactivation by dyeneuropeptide conjugates: 1. The synthesis of Cys-containing dye-neuropeptide conjugates. Peptides 17(6):991-994.
29. Burgess K., Godbout C., Li W. and Payza K. (1996) A small library of peptidomimetics to systematically vary and
test the effects of c1 constraints. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 6: 2761-2764.
30. Chin G. J., Payza K., Price D. A., Greenberg M. J. and Doble K. E. (1994) Characterization and solubilization of
the FMRFamide receptor of squid. Biological Bulletin 187: 185-199.
31. Payza K., Akar C. A., and Yang H.-Y. T. (1993) Neuropeptide FF receptors: Structure-activity relationship and
effect of morphine. JPET 267: 88-94.
32. Payza K. and Yang H.-Y. T. (1993) Modulation of neuropeptide FF receptors by guanine nucleotides and cations in
membranes of rat brain and spinal cord. Journal of Neurochemistry 60: 1894-1899.
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Kemal Payza, Ph.D.
NEOMED Institute, 7171 Frédérick-Banting, St. Laurent, Québec H4S 1Z9, Canada
Tel: 514-260-1079 Email: kpayza@neomed.ca
33. Fatatis A., Holtzclaw L., Payza K. and Russell J. T. (1992) Secretion from rat neurohypophysial nerve terminals
(neurosecretosomes) rapidly inactivates despite continued elevation of intracellular Ca 2+. Brain Res 574: 33-41.
34. Payza K. and Russell J. T. (1991) Activation and inactivation of oxytocin and vasopressin release from isolated
nerve endings (neurosecretosomes) of the rat neurohypophysis. J Neurochem 57: 499-508.
35. Payza K. and Russell J. T. (1991) Sodium inhibits hormone release and stimulates calcium efflux from isolated
nerve endings of the rat neurohypophysis. Cellular & Molecular Neurobiology 11: 321-331.
36. Payza K. and Russell J. T. (1990) Presynaptic modulation of oxytocin and vasopressin secretion from isolated
nerve terminals of the rat neural lobe. Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences 604: 632-634.
37. Payza K., Greenberg M. J. and Price D. A. (1989) Further characterization of Helix FMRFamide receptors:
kinetics, tissue distribution and interactions with the endogenous heptapeptides. Peptides 10: 657-661.
38. Greenberg M. J., Payza K., Holman G. M., Nachman R. J. and Price D. A. (1988) Relationships between the
FMRFamide-related peptides and other peptide families. Peptides 9 (Suppl.1): 125-135.
39. Payza K. (1987) FMRFamide receptors in Helix aspersa. Peptides 8: 1065-1074.
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