Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On October 21, 2019, the Board of Directors of CV Sciences, Inc. (the "Company") appointed Dr. Paul Blake as a director of the Company. Pursuant to the Company's Bylaws, Dr. Blake shall hold office until the next election of directors by the stockholders of the Company. It is expected that Dr. Blake will be a member of the Compensation Committee and the Nomination and Governance Committee of the Company's Board of Directors.
Dr. Blake brings with him deep expertise in clinical research, development, and medical affairs within the pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Heron Therapeutics Inc., a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from pain or cancer by developing best-in-class treatments. At Heron, Dr. Blake is responsible for clinical research, medical affairs and drug safety.
Prior to joining Heron, he served as Chief Medical Officer of BioDelivery Sciences International, and before that he was the Chief Development Officer at Oxford BioMedica, a gene therapy company. His prior positions include Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and Development of Aeterna Zentaris, Inc., and Senior Vice President and then Executive Vice President of Worldwide Medical and Regulatory Operations at Cephalon, Inc. From 1992 to 1998, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Medical Director, Clinical Research and Development at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GSK). Prior to that, he worked for ICI Pharmaceuticals (now Astra Zeneca) and G.D. Searle.
Dr. Blake is qualified in medicine from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.
Dr. Blake has been involved in the development of several pharmaceutical drugs including: Tenormin, Zestril, Kytril, Relafen, Paxil, Coreg, Havrix, Hycamtin, Famvir, Requip, Avandia, Provigil and Fentora.
Dr. Blake served on the board of Memory Pharmaceutical, Inc., until it was purchased by Roche in 2009 and was a founding board member of Protez Pharmaceuticals, Inc., until it was purchased by Novartis in 2008. He was also a Director of ViaCell, Inc., until its purchase by Perkin Elmer in 2007 and of Oxford BioMedica from 2008 until 2016.
He has also served as a member of the Inter-Company Collaboration for AIDS Drug Development and as a trustee of the Children’s Health Fund.
There is no arrangement or understanding between Dr. Blake and any other person pursuant to which Dr. Blake was selected as a director of the Company's Board of Directors. Dr. Blake is not a participant in, nor is he to be a participant in, any related-person transaction or proposed related-person transaction required to be disclosed by Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Other than the Company’s formal plan for compensating its independent directors for their services approved by the Board of Directors, there are no plans, contracts or arrangements or amendments to any plans, contracts or arrangements entered into with Dr. Blake, or any grants or awards made to Dr. Blake, in connection with his election to the Board of Directors.