SERGEY TKACHENKO

Sr Director Medicinal Chemistry

Sergey Tkachenko has 30 plus years experience in chemistry and CNS drug discovery. During his impressive academic career he was a senior investigator in Medicinal Chemistry, Organic chemistry, Combinatorial chemistry, and Radiochemistry research projects focused on central nervous system diseases.

Professor Tkachenko is a co-inventor of the novel drug Dimebon for the treatment of Alzheimer Disease (patented in US and Europe). Dimebon exhibited neuroprotective and AD-modifiying properties in Phase II clinical trials, and is now under active development by Pfizer in US Phase III trials.
Since 2002 Prof. Tkachenko has served as the Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at ChemDiv, Inc. Prior to joining ChemDiv, he worked in the Institute of Physiologically Active Substances (IPhAC) at the Russian Academy of Science (1979-2002), beginning as a Researcher and advancing to Head of the Laboratory. He has also served as Invited Expert of the Scientific Council and Lecturer in Chemistry at Moscow State University, where he co-founded the first Russian scholarly program in Medicinal Chemistry.

From 2003 to present, Professor Tkachenko has actively collaborated on a number of Drug Discovery programs with the Russian Academies of Science, Yale University, and Harvard Medical School, among others. These collaborations encompassed the design and synthesis of neuro- and geronto-protectors, as well as cognition enhancers.

Professor Tkachenko earned his Ph.D. in Organic and Radiochemistry from Moscow State University, where he subsequently served as Associate Professor. He has authored over 130 scientific publications and more than 50 patents in the US, Japan, and Russia.