Eikon Therapeutics adds Merck chemistry chief to advisory board

Eikon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: EIKN) has appointed Johnny Bennett, Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board, according to a company statement. Dr. Bennett currently serves as Vice President and Head of Discovery Chemistry at Merck Research Laboratories.

Dr. Bennett joins Eikon's advisory board as part of an ongoing relationship between the two companies. Merck has supplied its anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), for registration-enabling trials involving EIK1001, Eikon's TLR7/8 dual agonist, and for combination studies with EIK1005, Eikon's Werner helicase inhibitor. Merck also participated in Eikon's initial public offering.

Dr. Bennett earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He began his career at N.V. Organon in the Netherlands in 1997, where his research contributed to the discovery of sugammadex (Bridion), a medicine used to reverse neuromuscular blockade following surgery. He received the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award and the Royal Society of Chemistry Malcolm Campbell Memorial Award for that work.

He joined Merck in 2011 as Senior Director of Discovery Chemistry and was promoted to Vice President in 2022. He also served as interim Head of Discovery Oncology in 2024 before being named to his current role earlier this year.

Other members of Eikon's Scientific Advisory Board include Nobel laureates Eric Betzig, Ph.D., and Thomas Cech, Ph.D., as well as Robert Tjian, Ph.D., Trey Ideker, Ph.D., and Wendy B. Young, Ph.D.

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