Dennis Yamashita, PhD
Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Axial Biotherapeutics
Location: Waltham, MA
United States
Dennis Yamashita, PhD, is a highly experienced and accomplished drug developer and medicinal chemist with extensive leadership experience at GSK and in biotechnology companies. He is co-inventor of five clinical candidates including Trevena's Olinvyk (oliceridine), which was approved by the FDA in August 2020 for acute pain.
Dr. Yamashita has held various leadership roles at GSK, ORIC (Overcoming Resistance in Cancer), and Trevena. At GSK, he was Executive Director in Discovery Partnerships with Academia and was also Director of Medicinal Chemistry in Microbial, Musculoskeletal, and Proliferative Diseases Center of Excellence Drug Discovery. Most recently, he was Vice President, Drug Discovery of ORIC and was formerly Vice President, Chemistry at Trevena.
Dr. Yamashita holds a bachelor's degree from MIT and a doctorate in organic chemistry from Yale University.