David Heal

Executive Director and co-founder, DevelRx Ltd

David is an Executive Director and co-founder of DevelRx Ltd. DevelRx provides consultancy support to pharmaceutical companies developing novel CNS drugs. His initial training was as a neuroscientist and behavioural pharmacologist at the University of Oxford.

After a career in academic research, he joined the pharmaceutical industry with responsibility for CNS and metabolic drug research at Boots Pharmaceuticals and BASF Pharma. He co-founded and for 20 years was an Executive Director at the non-clinical CRO, RenaSci, before leaving to set up DevelRx. His experience in R&D encompasses the approval of 15 novel drugs for indications including ADHD, binge-eating disorder, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, opiate withdrawal, opiate-induced adverse events, anaesthesia, haemodialysis-induced pruritis, and obesity.

He was awarded a DSc by Kings College, London University for his contribution to pharmacology research. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Bath, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He has authored more than 200 scientific articles and reviews, co-edited books and journal special issues on a range of clinical topics and serves on the editorial boards of several international scientific journals.