close
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20230529234712/https://www.xocpharma.com/

Contemporary Science.
Innovative Medicine.

Xoc Pharmaceuticals is an early-stage, biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative therapeutics. We design novel products “from the ground up” by leveraging information on existing compounds with established pharmacological and clinical history and utilizing the Company’s proprietary design and development process to address unmet medical needs, primarily in the CNS disease space.

About

The Company’s initial area of focus is the development of novel oral therapies for migraine prevention and dopamine agonism for Parkinson’s disease management.

Xoc utilizes state-of-the-art receptor characterization technology and cutting-edge medicinal chemistry to identify product candidates and develop novel therapies to meet the goal of providing improved safety and efficacy for patients. Xoc manages the clinical and regulatory risk in our development programs by leveraging the extensive pharmacological history of compounds similar to our product candidates.

The name “Xoc” is derived from a term in the Mayan language and is pronounced “shock”.

Leadership

Scott Borland

President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Borland is a Co-founder of Xoc Pharmaceuticals and has more than 20 years of experience in drug delivery, including medical devices and drug-device combination products. Most recently, Mr. Borland served as Senior Vice President of the Neurology Franchise at MAP Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Allergan in 2013. Mr. Borland was responsible for all development activities related to the company’s lead product, including design engineering and manufacturing, regulatory activities and manufacturing scale-up. Prior to MAP, Mr. Borland held senior management positions at Capnia, Inc., where he was Vice President of Engineering and Operations, and Aerogen, Inc., where he was Senior Director, Engineering and Operations. He has held a series of other positions in the medical device, drug delivery, and computer hardware industries with Therics, Inc., Topaz Technologies, and Applied Magnetics and was previously a Visiting Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Borland holds an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Miguel Guzman, Ph.D.

Vice President, Technical Operations & Product Development

Dr. Guzman is a Co-founder of Xoc Pharmaceuticals and has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech product research and development, process validation, product launch and life-cycle management. Most recently, Dr. Guzman served as Director of Technical Operations at MAP Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for overseeing and managing chemical and manufacturing controls activities for the company’s lead product. Prior to MAP, he held multiple technical leadership roles, with increasing levels of responsibility, at 3M Pharmaceuticals and 3M Drug Delivery Systems in product development and marketed product support. Dr. Guzman earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from University of Washington and received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Kentucky Wesleyan College.

Thomas Armer, Ph.D.

Consulting Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Armer has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and drug delivery industry. Dr. Armer co-founded MAP Pharmaceuticals in 2003 and served as its Chief Scientific Officer and member of the Board of Directors until the company was acquired by Allergan in 2013. Prior to MAP, Dr. Armer served as Vice President of Pulmonary Delivery Systems and later as Chief Scientific Officer at Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on development of pharmaceuticals for pulmonary delivery. Dr. Armer also held a series of senior management and product development positions at the Novon Products Group, a division of Warner-Lambert, and Aeroquip Vickers Corporation. Dr. Armer received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Tulane University and a B.S. in chemical engineering from New Mexico State University.

Robert S. Fishman, M.D.

Consulting Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Fishman has over 20 years of experience in product development spanning drugs and drug-device combinations. He has served as our Chief Medical Officer since February 2019. From 2015 to 2019, Dr. Fishman was Chief Medical Officer at Corcept Therapeutics, where he led programs in endocrine/metabolic diseases and in oncology, including the advancement of relacorilant to Phase 3 for the treatment of Cushing syndrome. From 2012 to 2015, he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at InterMune (acquired by Roche) where he led the final stage of the clinical development of pirfenidone (Esbriet®) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Prior to InterMune, he was Vice President of Clinical Development at Alexza Pharmaceuticals and led the final stage of the clinical development of inhaled loxapine (ADASUVE®), a drug/device combination for the acute treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder. Before that, he held clinical development positions at Heartport, Aerogen and Anthera Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Fishman trained in internal medicine at Deaconess Hospital, Boston, completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and began his career as a member of the Stanford University pulmonary medicine faculty. He serves as a teaching attending physician in the Stanford pulmonary fellows’ clinic at Palo Alto Veterans Administration Medical Center. He earned an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Lisa Borland

Marketing, Corporate Communications & Infrastructure Operations

Ms. Borland is a Co-founder of Xoc Pharmaceuticals and has over 13 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and drug delivery industry across marketing, regulatory, public and investor relations. Most recently, she has been a consultant to various small to mid-size biotech companies in the area of Corporate Communications. Previously, Ms. Borland was Senior Manager of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at MAP Pharmaceuticals where she was responsible for managing external corporate communications and presentation of the company’s brands, products and activities. Prior to MAP, Ms. Borland held positions at Aerogen, Inc. in Marketing, where she was co-manager of one of the key marketing programs, and Regulatory, where she was a part of the combination product team that developed and submitted the Investigational New Drug application (IND) for an aerosolized antibiotic for treatment of ventilator associated pneumonia. Ms. Borland received a B.A. in Art History and Studio Art from Dartmouth College.

Pipeline

Xoc’s pipeline exemplifies utilization of the Company’s proprietary design and development process to address unmet needs in the CNS disease space. Xoc designs novel therapies by first assimilating the benefits and side effects of existing drugs. Then, using state-of-the-art receptor characterization technology and cutting-edge medicinal chemistry, Xoc “learns” the SAR relationships between compounds and receptors and is able to engineer in desired efficacious effects and engineer out deleterious side effects.

Xoc’s lead product candidates XC101 and XC130 target an array of receptors, rather than just one, appropriate for migraine therapy and dopamine-focused PD therapy, respectively, and for desired side effect management.

Publications

Novel receptor activity mapping of methysergide and its metabolite, methylergometrine, provides a mechanistic rationale for both the clinically observed efficacy and risk of fibrosis in patients with migraine

Guzman, M., Armer, T.A., Borland, S.W., Fishman, R.S., Leyden, M.J.
Xoc Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

Poster presentation at American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, July 11-14th 2019

Development of a novel clinical-stage drug for the prevention of migraine based on receptor activity mapping and achievement of a target receptor profile

Armer, T.A., Guzman, M., Borland, S.W., Fishman, R.S., Leyden, M.J.
Xoc Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Poster presentation at American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, July 11-14th 2019

Serotonin receptor activity profiles (5-HT2B and 5-HT2A) for nine commercialized ergot alkaloids correspond to known risks of fibrosis and hallucinations

Armer, T.A., Guzman, M., Borland, S.W., Fishman, R.S., Leyden, M.J., Rapoport, A.M.*
Xoc Pharmaceuticals, Inc., *The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Poster presentation at American Headache Society 61st Annual Scientific Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, July 11-14th 2019

Contact Us

Xoc Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
16615 Lark Ave, Suite 100
Los Gatos, CA 95032

info@xocpharma.com