Roger Tung, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur with deep expertise in small-molecule drug R&D. He earned his doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before beginning his career at Merck & Co. He then joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals as a founding scientist, where he played a pivotal early role in initiating and leading research efforts.

At Vertex, Roger co-initiated and led the HIV protease program, inventing Vertex’s first approved drugs amprenavir (Agenerase®) and fosamprenavir (Lexiva®). As head of the chemistry department, he oversaw Vertex’s collaboration with Eli Lilly, which resulted in the discovery of telaprevir (Incivek®). Upon its commercial launch in 2011, telaprevir became the fastest drug in history to reach $1 billion in annual sales.

Roger later established and led Vertex’s drug discovery efforts in San Diego, where his team discovered the first CFTR corrector, lumacaftor, and the first CFTR potentiator, ivacaftor. Lumacaftor combined with ivacaftor was commercialized as Orkambi®, while ivacaftor monotherapy was approved as Kalydeco®, each targeting specific cystic fibrosis genotypes. Ivacaftor also is a key active component in the CF therapies Symdeko® and Trikafta®. Additionally, his team initiated work on subtype-selective NaV 1.8 sodium channel inhibitors, discovering the first potent and selective agents. This research helped form the basis for Vertex's subsequent discovery of suzetrigine (Journavx®), recently approved for the treatment of acute pain.

Following his tenure at Vertex, Roger co-founded Concert Pharmaceuticals with Rich Aldrich and Christoph Westphal, and served as CEO until its acquisition by Sun Pharma. There, his team pioneered the use of deuterium modifications to enhance the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of biologically active molecules. Under his leadership, Concert discovered and conducted the early development of deutivacaftor, later acquired by Vertex and now a key active component of the newly-approved CF drug Alyftrek®. Another Concert-discovered therapy, deuruxolitinib, recently gained FDA approval for the treatment of alopecia areata.