Dr. Vimal Mehta is the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of BioXcel Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BTAI), a biopharmaceutical company utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to develop transformative medicines in neuroscience and immuno-oncology. He has more than 25 years of leadership in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Dr. Mehta successfully built and led innovative drug discovery and development companies that have helped bring novel therapies to market to address major unmet medical needs and positively impact the lives of patients, caregivers, and clinicians.

In 2006, Dr. Mehta co-founded BioXcel LLC, which pioneered the application of big data analytics and machine learning-based AI integrated with drug-development expertise. In 2017, he co-founded BioXcel Therapeutics as a spinout and led the company’s Initial Public Offering in 2018. He has now raised approximately $500 million in capital to support the company’s R&D and commercial efforts. Through his leadership, BioXcel Therapeutics has built a unique AI-based drug discovery and development capability and advanced from first-in-human clinical trials to FDA approval of IGALMI™ and commercial launch in under four years. Developed as BXCL501, IGALMI™ is a proprietary, sublingual film formulation of dexmedetomidine approved for the acute treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I or II disorder in adults.

In 2022, Dr. Mehta led strategic financing agreements of $260 million with Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and Qatar Investment Authority to support the company’s commercial activities for IGALMI, expand clinical development of BXCL501 — including a pivotal Phase 3 program for acute agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease as well as the at-home use of BXCL501 for acute agitation in bipolar and schizophrenia patients — and advance additional neuroscience and immuno-oncology clinical programs. He also led the formation of OnkosXcel Therapeutics as a subsidiary of BioXcel Therapeutics to develop transformative medicines in oncology.

Dr. Mehta has been recognized for healthcare leadership, including New Haven Biz naming him in its “Power 25 Healthcare 2022” list of leaders for “making strides developing treatments for cancer and agitation in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.” Also in 2022, the Healthcare Technology Report ranked Dr. Mehta among the top 25 healthcare technology leaders in Connecticut. In addition, BioXcel Therapeutics was named Therapeutics Company of the Year for 2022 in the annual BioTech Breakthrough Awards, while the Hartford Business Journal recognized the company among area “healthcare heroes.”

In addition to his roles at BioXcel Therapeutics, Dr. Mehta is Chairman of the Board and CEO of BioXcel LLC and serves on the Board of several other companies. Earlier in his career, he worked for several leading pharmaceutical companies in senior-level business-development capacities. He was also Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, USA.

Dr. Mehta holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Delhi, India and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in chemistry at the University of Montpellier, France.