Cortex Completes Search for New CEO

IRVINE —  Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., which makes drugs to combat neurological disorders, said Thursday it has hired a veteran industry executive to fill the chief executive’s position that has been vacant several months.

Vincent F. Simmon, 52, former chief executive of biopharmaceutical company Prototek Inc. in Dublin, Calif., becomes president and chief executive officer of Cortex. The company has been without a chief executive since Alan A. Steigrod departed in October.

Simmon joins Cortex as the company develops a drug that it hopes eventually to market as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The drug, Ampalex, is in clinical trials and still must gain approval of the Food and Drug Administration.

Cortex is also planning to align itself with a larger pharmaceutical company to further develop and market the product, said Scott Hagen, who has been acting president since Steigrod left. Hagen resumes his previous role as vice president and chief financial officer.

Simmon has more than 20 years of management experience in biology and biopharmacology, the company said. Before serving 2 1/2 years as chief executive of Prototek, he was president and chief executive of Alpha 1 Biomedicals Inc. of Bethesda, Md.

Simmon could not be reached for comment.

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Profile: Vincent F. Simmon

Title: President/CEO

Company: Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Headquarters: Irvine

Age: 52

Credentials: PhD in molecular biology and microbiology, Brown University, 1971; postdoctoral fellow, molecular biology, Stanford University, 1971-73

Background: Began career as a research chemist and advanced to administrative and executive positions at several firms, including CEO, president and director of Alpha 1 Biomedicals, 1990-94, and Prototek, 1994-95

Source: Cortex Pharmaceuticals