Dennis Liotta

Dr. Liotta is our scientific advisor, especially in the areas of infectious diseases and medicinal chemistry.

Through his discoveries, Dennis Liotta has helped to transform HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic infection in which patients are able to live active, near-normal lives. The Emory University Office of Technology Transfer estimates that greater than ninety percent of all of the HIV-infected persons in the United States take (or have taken) one of the two drugs he invented. The two drugs, lamivudine (Epivir) and emtricitabine (Emtriva), are components of 18 FDA-approved combination therapies including Atripla, Biktarvy, Combivir, Complera, Delstrigo, Descovy, Dutrebis, Epivir-HBV, Epzicom, Genvoya, Odefesey, Stribild, Symtuza, Triumeq, Trizivir and Truvada.

Dennis’ contributions to improving human health are not restricted to AIDS: (a) one of the drugs he co-discovered, lamivudine (Epivir-HBV), became the first drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of hepatitis B (HBV) infections; and (b) a company he co-founded, Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2012), developed sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), the breakthrough drug, which in many cases, provides a cure for hepatitis C infection (HCV). In addition, he has founded or been closely associated with numerous start-up companies including (a) Triangle Pharmaceuticals, which developed emtricitabine through its Phase 3 clinical trials before it was acquired by Gilead Science in 2002; (b) QUE Oncology, which is developing the Phase 2 clinical agent, Q-122, a safe, orally available drug for controlling hot flashes in women with breast cancer and in post-menopausal women; (c) NeurOp, a CNS drug discovery company that is developing NP10679, an orally available, pH-sensitive, non-opioid antagonist of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors that are recently completed a Phase 1 clinical trial as a possible treatment for perioperative pain and stroke; and (d) DRIVE (Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory), a non-profit drug development company focused on the design and development of small molecule drugs for treating a variety of viral infections (e.g., Chikungunya, Zika virus, Dengue Fever, Rhinovirus and HBV (and HBD). Recently, DRIVE out-licensed (to Antios Therapeutics) a novel, orally-available compound, ATI-2173, which could potentially provide a cure for Hepatitis B, a disease that affects over 300 million people worldwide and EIDD-2801, a Phase 2 clinical agent, to Ridgeback/Merck for treating COVID-19 infections. Dr. Liotta has authored over 295 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on over 95 issued US patents.

Dennis is currently the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry at Emory University, the Executive Director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, the Editor-in-Chief for the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, the Associate Director of the Emory Center for Aids Research, and the Co-Director of Advancing Healthcare Innovation in Africa.

Dennis received a B.A. from Queens College of CUNY, his Ph.D. from the City University of New York with R. Engel, and did postdoctoral research with L. Paquette at the Ohio State University.