Alpha Cognition Announces Election of Dr. Robert Wills as Chairman of the Board
Alpha Cognition Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOG) ("Alpha Cognition", or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, today announced changes to its Board of Directors. Robert Wills has been elected Chairman of the Board, succeeding Len Mertz, who has retired from the Board after years of dedicated service and leadership.
"On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we are pleased that Dr. Wills will serve as Chairman at this important time for Alpha Cognition," said Michael McFadden, Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Cognition, Inc. "He brings a wealth of experience, strategic insight, and a deep understanding of our business. The Board is confident that his leadership will help guide Alpha Cognition through its next phase of growth as we continue executing on the commercial launch of ZUNVEYL and advancing our pipeline to deliver meaningful therapies to patients."
Dr. Wills has served on Alpha Cognition’s Board of Directors since 2025, and currently serves as Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee. Dr. Wills currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Milestone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIST), and as a board member at Parion Sciences, Inc. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of CymaBay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CBAY) prior to its acquisition by Gilead Sciences, Inc. in March 2024, as a board member at Oncternal Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ONCT) from 2019 to 2025, and as Executive Chairman of GTx, Inc. from 2015 to 2019. Prior to that, he spent more than 25 years at Johnson & Johnson, where his roles included Vice President, Alliance Management at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies and Senior Vice President, Global Development, in which he was responsible for the R&D pipeline and served as a member of the R&D Board of Directors. Dr. Wills holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.
"I am honored to serve as Chairman of the Board at this important stage in Alpha Cognition’s evolution," said Dr. Wills. "The Company has made significant progress in advancing its mission to improve the lives of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. I look forward to working closely with the Board and management team as we continue building on this momentum and executing our long-term growth strategy."
Dr. Wills succeeds Len Mertz, who has served as Chairman of the Board since 2021. During his tenure, Mr. Mertz provided valuable leadership and guidance as the Company advanced through key stages of development, strengthened its corporate governance framework, and achieved important operational and strategic milestones.
"We are deeply grateful to Mr. Mertz for his leadership, dedication, and many contributions to Alpha Cognition," added Michael McFadden. "His steady guidance has helped shape the Company during a pivotal period in our evolution. On behalf of the entire Board and management team, we thank Len for his service and wish him all the best."
About Alpha Cognition Inc.
Alpha Cognition Inc. is a commercial stage, biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments for patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Cognitive Impairment with mild Traumatic Brain Injury ("mTBI"), for which there are currently no approved treatment options.
ZUNVEYL is a patented acetylcholinesterase inhibitor approved for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease in adults. ZUNVEYL’s active metabolite is differentiated from donepezil and rivastigmine in that it binds neuronal nicotinic receptors, including the alpha-7 subtype, which has been studied in preclinical and clinical research. Benzgalantamine is also being developed in combination with memantine to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer’s dementia, and as a sublingual formulation for Cognitive Impairment with mTBI.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Except for statements of historical fact, any information contained in this news release may be a forward-looking statement that reflects the Company’s current views about future events and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company’s continued growth and execution on the commercial launch of ZUNVEYL. In some cases, you can identify forward‐looking statements by the words "may," "might," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "objective," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "target," "seek," "contemplate," "continue" and "ongoing," or the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology intended to identify statements about the future. Although the Company believes to have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our expectations of the future, about which we cannot be certain. The Company cannot assure that the actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, including risks regarding our ability to raise sufficient capital to implement our plans to commercialize ZUNVEYL, risks regarding the efficacy and tolerability of ZUNVEYL, risks related to ongoing regulatory oversight on the safety of ZUNVEYL, risk related to market adoption of ZUNVEYL, risks related to the Company’s intellectual property in relation to ZUNVEYL, risks related to the commercial manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sale of ZUNVEYL, risks related to product liability and other risks as described in the Company’s filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com and the Company’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including those risk factors under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 31, 2026 and the Company’s other filings with the SEC available at www.sec.gov. These forward‐looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward‐looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available in the future, except as required by law.
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For further information:
LifeSci Advisors, PJ Kelleher
pkelleher@lifesciadvisors.com
