Stephen Parker DPhil, MBA - Non-executive Chairman

Dr Stephen Parker, aged 63, has a career in the healthcare and pharma sector that spans over 30 years, including 10 years in the City in advisory roles. He has sector corporate finance experience having been an investment banker focusing on pharma and biotechnology with Barings, Warburg and Apax Partners and has previously held roles as a partner at Celtic Pharma and Chief Financial Officer of Oxford GlycoSciences.

Stephen is also a Non-executive Director at MGC Pharma and Eternans and chairman of Drishi Discoveries Ltd.

Tim Mitchell PhD - Founder and CEO

Dr Tim Mitchell, aged 61, has over 30 years' experience in the industry with key management and business expertise gained from his positions at Cambridge Discovery Chemistry Ltd and his roles at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Ltd as a member of the management team and in forming the integrated Structure-Based Discovery department.

Prior to that, he was director of computational chemistry at Cambridge Discovery Chemistry Ltd and a team leader in the Computational and Structural Sciences department at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.

Tim has a PhD in computational chemistry and a BSc in chemistry.

John Reader PhD - Founder and CSO

Dr John Reader, aged 54, has over 25 years’ experience within the industry and was formerly associate director, chemical technologies at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Research and Development Ltd, prior to which he worked with Pharmacopeia Inc. and Cambridge Discovery Chemistry Ltd in the provision of high throughput chemistry services to external and internal clients.

John has extensive experience of leading research teams and in the invention and application of new technologies to the drug discovery process, with an excellent track record of delivering successful projects to clients and has authored or co-authored many patents and publications. The majority of patents granted to John cover composition of matter discovered in the multiple projects in which he has worked, with further patents covering technological innovations in the field.

John is a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College and has a PhD in chemistry and a BSc in applied chemistry.

Michael Owen PhD - Non-executive Director

Dr Michael Owen, aged 70, has worked in biomedical research, and in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for nearly 40 years. He is the co-founder and first CSO of Kymab Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, UK, which was acquired by Sanofi for up to £1.45 billion in 2021.

Prior to Kymab, he worked for GSK where he was SVP and head of research for biopharmaceuticals R&D. In addition, to the board roles listed below, Michael is chairman of ReNeuron’s and Avacta’s scientific advisory boards and an adviser to Abingworth LLP and was until recently an adviser to the CRT Pioneer Fund.

Michael received an MA from Oxford University and a PhD from Cambridge University, and is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Clive Birch - Non-executive Director

Clive Birch, aged 68, is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Cambridge Innovation Capital plc, a Cambridge-based builder of technology and healthcare companies. He is a retired partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers where his role was that of an auditor and reporting accountant with an industry specialism in early stage technology and healthcare companies. He was also part of the teams involved in fund raising and listing those clients on various markets. Mr Birch was also partner in charge of PwC’s Cambridge office for 15 years up to 2010, during which time he was responsible for all aspects of that stand-alone business.

Scientific Advisory Board

Harry Finch PhD

Dr Finch has many years’ experience in the Pharmaceutical industry and is currently Executive Vice President at Pulmagen Therapeutics. He was previously Executive VP of Argenta Discovery, a Director at RiboTargets and spent 24 years at GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor companies, latterly as Director of Chemistry for UK Research & Development.

Harry has extensive experience in a wide range of therapeutic areas. He was a co-inventor of Salmeterol (Serevent; GSK), a successful long-acting bronchodilator for asthma and has 45 patents and 49 publications to his name.

Bob Jackson PhD

Dr Jackson was formerly Chief Scientific Officer at the cancer drug discovery company, Cyclacel Limited. Prior to that, he held senior research positions at Celltech, Agouron, DuPont and Warner-Lambert. Dr Jackson has led teams that have developed 26 compounds to clinical trials, including the Aurora Kinase inhibitor CYC116, and gained his PhD in biochemistry from the University of London.