BetterLife Pharma Appoints Mahan Chehrenama, DO, as Chief Medical Officer to Lead BETR-001 Toward Migraine IND
核心洞察
BetterLife Pharma has appointed board-certified neurologist and headache sub-specialist Mahan Chehrenama, DO, as Chief Medical Officer to lead clinical development of BETR-001.
BETR-001 is a non-hallucinogenic, non-controlled LSD-derivative neuroplastogen advancing toward an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for migraine (搜索) and other headache disorders, anticipated in the first quarter of 2027.
Dr. Chehrenama brings nearly a decade of senior biopharma drug development experience, including leading the first CGRP-inhibitor Aimovig (erenumab) (搜索) program at Amgen and an IND submission at Manistee Therapeutics.
BetterLife Pharma Inc. (搜索) (CSE: BETR) (OTCQB: BETRF) (FSE: NPAU), a biotechnology company developing treatments for neurological disorders, has appointed Mahan Chehrenama, DO, as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Chehrenama will lead clinical development for BETR-001, the Company's non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogen advancing toward an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for migraine (搜索) and other headache disorders, anticipated in the first quarter of 2027.
Dr. Chehrenama is a board-certified neurologist and headache sub-specialist who pairs nearly a decade in senior biopharma drug development with more than two decades of clinical practice and research in headache medicine, along with other neurologic disease. Her appointment brings dedicated migraine (搜索) drug-development leadership to the program as the Company finalizes IND-enabling work.
A Career Built on Migraine Drug Development
Dr. Chehrenama recently served as Chief Medical Officer at Manistee Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based early stage start-up where she led IND submission through MoA experiments along with design and execution of Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of MTX-101 aimed at treatment of migraine (搜索). Earlier, she served as global development lead at Amgen, where she guided the neuroscience programs working on the first CGRP-inhibitor, Aimovig (erenumab) (搜索), as a first in-class leading migraine therapy.
Prior to Amgen, she led Revance Therapeutics to a successful global phase 3 program in an orphan/rare disease indication supporting a Biologics License Application for Cervical Dystonia (搜索). Additionally, she helped secure a novel migraine (搜索) injection paradigm patent as the first named author for its well differentiated neurotoxin, daxibotulinumtoxinA. Her earliest industry work was at Avanir Pharmaceuticals in a medical affairs capacity which centered on a migraine asset (Onzetra), along with development of AVP-786 for other neuropsychiatric indications.
A Fellow of the American Headache Society, Dr. Chehrenama has served as principal investigator on more than 90 clinical trials over her career and has practiced clinical neurology since 1998 in Virginia. She previously served as Co-Medical Director of Headache and Concussion for Inova Health Systems, as an assistant clinical professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Inova Fairfax campus and as the founder and director of iNeuroHeadacheSpecialist, a direct to consumer telehealth second opinion practice aimed at the more refractory headache population.
Leadership Perspective on BETR-001
"BETR-001 is being developed for the patients Dr. Chehrenama has treated and studied her entire career," said Dr. Ahmad Doroudian, Chief Executive Officer of BetterLife. "She has taken migraine (搜索) programs through the FDA, led an IND submission, and worked on some of the field's leading therapies. As we move toward our own IND in the first quarter of 2027, that is exactly the clinical development leadership our BETR-001 program needs."
"Migraine (搜索) and cluster headache (搜索) remain greatly underserved, and BETR-001 pursues a serotonergic mechanism that is already validated in migraine, without hallucinations or scheduling barriers," said Dr. Chehrenama. "A non-controlled oral therapy that patients can take at home would be a meaningful advance. I am excited to lead the BETR001 clinical program and design trials that answer the questions patients and physicians actually care about."
BETR-001 and the Path to an IND Filing
BETR-001 is a non-hallucinogenic and non-controlled LSD derivative in development that is unique in that it is unregulated and therefore can be self-administered. BetterLife's synthesis patent for BETR-001 eliminates regulatory hurdles and its pending patent, for composition and method of use, covers treatment of various neurological disorders, until around 2042.
The appointment follows the Company's June 2026 closing of a CAD $2,000,000 convertible debenture financing, which will fund the remaining IND-enabling work on BETR-001 as BetterLife sharpens its focus on neurological pain indications, with an initial emphasis on cluster headache (搜索) and migraine (搜索). BetterLife holds a USPTO composition-of-matter patent on BETR-001, has completed its FDA pre-IND meeting, and has completed most required IND-enabling studies.
Appointment Terms
Pursuant to the appointment of Dr. Chehrenama as Chief Medical Officer, the Company has agreed to grant Dr. Chehrenama stock options to purchase 500,000 common shares of BetterLife, with an exercise price of $0.285, quarterly vesting over 24 months and a ten (10) year term.
Dr. Chehrenama earned her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her neurology residency and a neuromuscular medicine and neurophysiology fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical System, where she served as chief resident. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and holds subspecialty certification in headache medicine from the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties.