About Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Ryan Lanier
Ryan K. Lanier, PhD is Chief Clinical Research Scientist at Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Lanier has been with Rock Creek since August, 2009. Prior to joining the company, Dr. Lanier worked as a Clinical Research Scientist at Javelin Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA, where he assisted in the development of three novel analgesic drug formulations intended to treat acute pain syndromes. In his role as Chief Clinical Scientist at Rock Creek, Dr. Lanier supervises the evaluation of non-nicotine and non-tobacco products intended to reduce tobacco craving, and consults with Star Scientific on the development of modified risk smokeless tobacco products that are targeted at reducing the harm associated with tobacco use.
Dr. Lanier has dedicated his career to understanding the impact that drugs of abuse have on personal and public health, and to developing harm reduction options for those who are unable to quit abusing these substances. He received his PhD in Biological Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he investigated the effects of opioids and behavioral processes on immune status in preclinical models, and was awarded a competitive predoctoral National Research Service Award Individual Fellowship from the NIH to complete his dissertation work. Dr. Lanier subsequently completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship within the Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Lanier has authored or co-authored a number of manuscripts and book chapters, and has presented his research findings at a variety of scientific conferences including those held by the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society, the Society on Neuroimmune Pharmacology, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Dr. Curtis Wright
Dr. Wright brings a wealth of research and drug development and drug-abuse experience to Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, where he serves as the company's Senior Vice President and Medical/Clinical director.
Dr. Wright received his medical degree from the George Washington University and completed his initial training at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in the United States Navy. After nine years of naval service he completed his residency in Occupational and Preventive Medicine, and a Post-doctoral Fellowship, at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, MD.
Dr. Wright then worked as a medical review officer for the USPHS at the Food and Drug Administration in the areas of analgesics, anesthetics and drugs of abuse. During that tenure he was appointed Assistant Division Director and Acting Director for the Anesthetics, Analgesics and Life-Support Drugs Division.
After leaving the FDA, Dr. Wright served in senior management and research positions for a number of biotech and major pharmaceutical firms, working in the development of novel and more abuse-resistant analgesic medications.
CiGRX is clinically tested and developed to help anyone in their quest to find an alternative to lighting up when they are in situations where they cannot or choose not to smoke a cigarette. CiGRX is your smoking alternative; it reduces your desire to smoke while mimicking the "feel good" satisfaction of smoking, making your choice the right choice, without consequences.
Mission Statement
At Rock Creek, we research novel compounds - many developed from natural sources - which reduce the inflammation that accompanies injury to the body from smoking, aging and a number of medical conditions that result from dietary and other causes.
We have overseen the development of CigRx®, a non-nicotine, non-tobacco dietary supplement that reduces the urge to smoke. CigRx has two principal dietary ingredients: anatabine, one of the minor alkaloids found in both tobacco leaf and in green peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, and yerba mate. This dissolving mint lozenge reduces the urge to light a cigarette within minutes, and it is available through either the CigRx.com website, Amazon.com or in a selection of retail stores in the Richmond, VA area and in the New England states.
We are also developing other products that could address a range of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and depression. Research is currently underway to explore the role that the substance RCP-006 can play in reducing blood levels of c-reactive protein (CRT). CRT, found in blood, is broadly known to be a marker for inflammatory processes in the in human body. Such inflammation is a factor in a variety of coronary and vascular diseases, as well as autoimmune diseases including diabetes and thyroid disease.
