Anthony Ford

Anthony Ford

Senior Advisor, Menlo Park, CA

650-234-2700
Anthony is a Senior Advisor at New Leaf, having joined in 2018. Anthony is a pharmacologist/neuroscientist with extensive experience in drug design, discovery and development. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of CuraSen Therapeutics, a New Leaf portfolio company. He was a former vice president of research and head of neuroscience at Roche Pharmaceutical in Palo Alto where he initiated and drove several innovative medicinal design programs in peripheral and sensory neurobiology, which included advancing the first in class P2X3 antagonist into clinical studies. Following 20 years of R&D at Syntex / Roche, Dr. Ford co-founded Afferent Pharmacueticals with VC investors in 2009, in order to progress P2X3 antagonists, licensed from Roche, into studies in patients with chronic sensory disorders such as pain, and common visceral and respiratory disorders. Afferent, a New Leaf portfolio company, was acquired by Merck in 2016.
He was trained in pharmacology at Bradford University (1984), holds a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from Nottingham University (1988), and has published his research findings extensively with a strong focus on therapeutics for visceral sensory disorders and pain.