Cowley began his research career at Monash University and at the Prince Henry Institute of Medical Research. He then went to the US, where he was assistant professor at
Oregon Health and Science University. He also worked at the biopharmaceutical company
Neurocrine Biosciences in California. He later founded his own company, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OREX), which he took public in April 2007, raising US$255M to fund the drug development program. He is the inventor of 10 families of
patent applications, has published more than 75 papers, with 85 patents relating to obesity. In 2014, Cowley was the recipient of the inaugural Jacques Miller Medal for Experimental BioMedicine from the Australian Academy of Science. and a Pfizer Australia Senior Research Fellowship. Cowley was the inventor of several drugs, including Contrave®, which the
FDA approved in 2014. ==References==