SAN DIEGO– Releviate™ Therapeutics, a bio-pharmaceutical company developing a novel human antibody-based approach to treating neuropathic pain by potentially reversing the underlying pathophysiology of that pain, today appoints Dr. Steven P. Cohen to lead its scientific advisory board. The announcement follows Releviate Therapeutics closing its round of Series A funding. As head of the scientific advisory board, Cohen will provide high-level scientific oversight and lead strategy on the company’s therapeutic pipeline and clinical trials.
“This ‘first-in-class’ treatment has the potential not only to reduce pain and improve quality of life, but also to halt or reverse the underlying mechanisms that cause neuropathic pain,” said Cohen.
Cohen is a nationally renowned expert in chronic pain management. He has spearheaded several major contributions to pain medicine, including the development of a Food and Drug Administration approved denervation technique for treating sacroiliac joint pain, inventing the intravenous ketamine test and performing the first studies evaluating the epidural administration of biological agents for pain.
Cohen is actively involved in both clinical care and medical research. He specializes in treating patients that suffer from spinal pain, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia and pain resulting from traumatic injuries. Since 2014, he has been the chief of pain medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has served as the director of pain research at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for 15 years. He is also a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
“We are honored to welcome Steven to our scientific advisory board,” said Jacqueline Townsend Konstanturos, chairman of Releviate Therapeutics. “His appointment comes during an exciting growth inflection point for the company, having recently closed a successful Series A round and beginning our Series B raise. Steven is one of the country’s leading authorities in neuropathic pain and he will be an integral strategic resource as we advance our research and development initiatives.”
“The timing of Steven coming on board is outstanding, given the recent efficacy results of our product and the timing of our clinical trials,” added Sergey Sikora, CEO of Releviate Therapeutics.
In 2020, Cohen was appointed as the committee chair for multispecialty guidelines on pain management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, he served as the senior investigator on a congressionally-mandated study evaluating compounded topical creams for chronic pain, the committee chair for the national ketamine guidelines for pain management and the committee chair for an international consortium for lumbar and cervical facet blocks and radiofrequency ablation. Beyond his academic and clinical work, Cohen serves on the board of directors for the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Society of Regional Pain Medicine. Additionally, he is the principal investigator on over $20 million in federal grants.
Cohen is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army who was deployed four times in support of operations in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. His research in pain medicine was instrumental in the passage of the 2008 Military Pain Care Act, and he has since served as an inaugural member on the U.S. Army Medical Advisory Board. He is the author of over 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has been published in numerous high impact journals, including The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Mayo Clinic Proceedings and The BMJ. He is the recipient of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine John J. Bonica Award, the American Academy of Pain Medicine Founders Award, the Military Health System Research Symposium Distinguished Service Award and the Legion of Merit, among others.
Cohen is board certified in pain management and anesthesiology. He earned his medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 1989. He completed a residency in anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital followed by a fellowship in pain management at Massachusetts General Hospital.
