Davis’ work has helped advance drugs that impact rare neurological conditions
By Archer Parquette
John Davis’ (BS ’90) career was changed by a pamphlet in the back of a lecture hall. As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the late ’80s, Davis had a career as a high school chemistry teacher in mind until he found that pamphlet advertising the new Pharmacology and Toxicology program at the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy. He was most struck by the program’s independent study requirement — an opportunity for him to pursue research that interested him. One meeting with the program director later, and Davis took the first steps toward a career in toxicology that has left an impact on the field, patients, young scientists, and more for over 20 years.
“I can’t say enough great things about the PharmTox program,” says Davis, who is currently the senior vice president and head of preclinical development at Dyne Therapeutics. “It opened up everything for me — I’ve experienced things I never would have without it.”
“I can’t say enough great things about the PharmTox program. It opened up everything for me — I’ve experienced things I never would have without it.”
—John Davis
This year, Davis has been selected as the School of Pharmacy’s PharmTox Alumnus of the Year for his contributions to the field of toxicology.
Finding direction
In the PharmTox program, Davis worked in the lab of Professor Richard Peterson, researching the impact of environmental contaminants on lipid metabolism using rodents as a model organism.
“There were many senior scientists, graduate students, postdocs who were all willing to sit down with me and answer my questions,” he says. “It was very helpful in getting a sense of what I wanted to do long term in my career, and I developed lifelong friendships.”
He pursued his PhD at Purdue University, where he was mentored by Jack Vanden Heuvel (BS ’86), one of the first graduates of the PharmTox program who became the inaugural PharmTox Alumnus of the Year in 2018. From there, he became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Mexico, where he continued his research into mechanisms of toxicity. In 2001, Davis joined the Schering-Plough Research Institute, where his research helped develop novel methods for predicting the potential toxicity of drugs.
“Toxicology is the intersection of many different scientific fields — it’s physiology; it’s anatomy; it’s biochemistry; it’s pathology. It marries research and applied science,” Davis says. “I met other like-minded scientists in their careers, and I began to learn more about this idea of discovery toxicology.”
Discovery toxicology was a burgeoning field that used toxicology methods during the early phases of drug research to improve drug safety and mitigate failures in clinical development, with the goal of having more successful trials and safer drugs. Davis was at the forefront of discovery toxicology’s development.
His work drew attention, with publications, presentations, and symposium chairs, and brought him to Pfizer, where he worked as a toxicologist for 12 years. Davis helped to bring discovery toxicology into higher prominence, co-founding the Drug Discovery Toxicology Specialty section of the Society of Toxicology in 2005.
“That provided the community of toxicologists with the chance to understand what other opportunities are available,” Davis says. “The leaders in that specialty section today are relatively early in their careers. They’re bringing new ideas, new perspectives, and the next generation into this field.”
But he soon felt a new calling within the field of toxicology.
A rare disease focus
While Davis was working at Pfizer, the company acquired a much smaller one called FoldRx. He didn’t realize that the acquisition would alter the course of his career.
FoldRx had developed a drug to combat transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis, a rare neurologic disease that can have a life expectancy anywhere from three to 15 years. Davis became the non-clinical lead on the team, working closely with former FoldRx employees to see the drug through approvals in Europe and the United States, where it’s now known as Vyndaqel. The drug has been found to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with TRR amyloidosis by 41 percent.
“TTR amyloidosis is a devasting disease — it’s genetic and it can just devastate entire families,” Davis says. “Now, these families have something that can help them. That’s the reason we do this.”
The experience left its mark on Davis, not just because of the impact of the drug he helped bring to market, but because of his interactions with the former FoldRx team.
“When you’re in a large company, you often don’t get to see and feel the work you do like at a smaller company,” Davis says. “When I met these individuals from FoldRx, they were passionate. They were dedicated. There was an urgency, and I thought that I could really thrive in that kind of environment. I started thinking maybe I ought to look for new opportunities at smaller companies, working on rare diseases.”
In 2016, Davis took the leap, leaving Pfizer and joining Wave Life Sciences. After four years there, he joined Dyne Therapeutics where he is a senior vice president, currently overseeing the preclinical development of new therapeutics for rare muscle diseases, including myotonic dystrophy type 1, which has no approved treatment options.
“We have two investigational therapeutics in the clinic that we released positive data on this year,” he says. “There’s a long way to go, but it’s promising, and we’re certainly very excited about the potential.”
Davis continues to give back to the School of Pharmacy’s PharmTox program, where he was an original member of the UW PharmTox External Advisory Board. As a board member, he helps advise the direction of the program and frequently networks with, mentors, and assists students in finding the right career path, the same way he found his.
“One of the things I’m most proud of in my career is my involvement with the PharmTox External Advisory Board,” he says. “That’s a passion of mine — to help students in any small way I can.”