Name: Dr Peter W. Atadja

Date of Birth: November 13, 1959

Place of Birth: Vakpo, Ghana

Marital Status: Peter is married to Cynthia and is blessed with three "daughters of Africa" Makafui     (16), Aseye (14) and Nuna (12).

Highest Academic Qualification:  e.g. PhD Molecular& Cellular Biology

Current Position: Global Research Director, Novartis Oncology LBH589 GPT.

Address:  9 Reeve St., Acton, MA 01720, USA

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Field(s) of Academic Expertise: Drug discovery /Development i.e. Therapeutic Target  Identification & Validation,  Hit-to-Lead identification, Medicinal Chemistry & Lead optimization, Preclinical development (DMPK & Safety), Clinical Translational Research.


Brief Biography:

Born in Ghana, Peter Atadja received the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.  He then proceeded to begin his postgraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where he made seminal contributions to the pioneering work of his mentors Professors Alex Levitzki and Michael Chorev in the designing and developing of first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (Tyrphostins) for anti-cancer therapy. His work on Tyrphostins which are  currently available commercially as Research Lead tools was recognized with a  M.Sc (Magna Cum Laude in Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry ) and the Hebrew University's Michael Sherwood Prize for graduate research.  Peter Atadja continued his graduate studies and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Oncology from the University of Calgary, Canada, where his research yielded important fundamental observations in molecular mechanisms of aging and their linkage with cancer development.  His doctoral dissertation was also nominated for two prestigious Canadian research awards (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Award and the Canadian Graduate Research Award).  In 1997, he joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey to work on their efforts to develop drugs that target epigenetic mechanisms for anti-cancer therapy.

Through his work at Novartis, Peter Atadja, is currently an internationally acknowledged research expert and pioneer in the therapeutic targeting of histone deacetylase (HDAC),  a promising approach in treatment of cancer and other diseases.  His leadership of anti-cancer drug development in this area has resulted in several novel scaffolds, an important patent estate and ultimately two compounds that are undergoing clinical evaluation. The most advanced anti-cancer drug discovered by Dr. Atadja, LBH589, is currently in pivotal clinical trials for treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), with USFDA submission expected in 2009.  In clinical trials, LBH589 (INN: Panobinostat) produced dramatic complete and partial remissions in CTCL, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, prostate and breast cancers.  Dr. Atadja’s  work  is also opening  up opportunities for treatments in disease areas such as cardiac hypertrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, neurodegeneration, transplant rejection, etc. In recognition of his innovative and groundbreaking discoveries resulting in substantive advances in the treatment cancer, Novartis conferred one of its highest titles in drug discovery and Development “The Novartis Leading Scientist” on Dr Peter Atadja for the year 2008.

Peter Atadja has published more than 60 peer-reviewed original articles, a number of invited reviews and book chapters, as well as hundreds of meeting  abstracts and presentations.

Three Major Academic and/or Professional Achievements:

1.    Pioneered and led Anti-cancer drug research in histone deacetylases from  therapeutic target validation  through drug candidate selection and preclinical development, resulting  in two clinical investigative drugs (LAQ824 and LBH589) which are demonstrating clinical remissions in multiple cancer  types.

2.    Designed, synthesized and characterized bisubstrate analogs of the earliest tyrosine kinase inhibitors Tyrphostins which are currently commercially available as research reagents and therapeutic lead compounds

3.    2008 recipient of  Novartis’ highest Award for Vision, Innovation, Value and Achievement in Drug Discovery and Development.  The title “Novartis Leading Scientist” bestowed.

Total number of original scientific publications:  60

Five Selected publications in international peer reviewed journals: (provide authors, article title, journal name, year, volume and pages)

1.    Remiszewski SW, Sambucetti LC, Bair KW, Bontempo J, Cesarz D, Chandramouli N, Chen R, Cheung M, Cornell-Kennon S, Dean K, Diamantidis G, France D, Green MA, Howell KL, Kashi R, Kwon P, Lassota P, Martin MS, Mou Y, Perez LB, Sharma S, Smith T, Sorensen E, Taplin F, Trogani N, Versace R, Walker H, Weltchek-Engler S, Wood A, Wu A,  Atadja P. N-hydroxy-3-phenyl-2-propenamides as novel inhibitors of human histone deacetylase with in vivo antitumor activity: discovery of (2E)-N-hydroxy-3-[4-[[(2-hydroxyethyl)[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl]amino]methyl]phenyl]-2-propenamide (NVP-LAQ824).Atadja P.  J Med Chem. 2003 46:4609-24

2.    Peter Atadja, Lin Gao, Paul Kwon, Nancy Trogani, Heather Walker, Meier Hsu, Nagarajan Chandramouli, Lawrence Perez, Richard Versarce, Arthur Wu, Lidia Sambucetti, Stacy Remiszewski. Selective Growth inhibition of tumor cells by a novel histone deacetylase inhibitor NVP-LAQ824.  Cancer Res. 2004 64(2):689-95.

3.    Gao, Lin, Cueto, Maria, Atadja, Peter. Cloning and Functional Characterization of HDAC11, a Novel Member of the Human Histone Deacetylase Family. J Biol Chem. 2002 Jul 12;277(28):25748-55.

4.    Alejandro Villagra1, Fengdong Cheng, Hong-Wei Wang, Ildelfonso Suarez, Michelle Glozak2,3, Michelle Maurin,  Danny Nguyen, Kenneth L. Wright,, Peter W. Atadja, Kapil Bhalla, Javier Pinilla-Ibarz, Edward Seto and Eduardo M. Sotomayor  A novel role of HDAC 11 as a transcriptional regulator of  IL-10 and immune tolerance. Nature Immunology Nat Immunol. 2009 Jan;10(1):92-100.

5.    Atadja P.W., Wong, H., Garkavtsev, I., Mclure, K., Lee, P.W.K., and  Riabowol, K. (1996). Increased Activity of the p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein  in Senescent Human Diploid Fibroblasts.    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sc. USA 92:  8348- 8352.