Joseph Birkett, PhD

Chief Executive Officer

PearlRiver Bio

Joseph Birkett, PhD, serves as Chief Executive Officer at PearlRiver Bio. He brings a wealth of experience in oncology research and development, having spent over twenty years across various roles working in mid to large size pharmaceutical companies (Eli Lilly and Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Acerta Pharma, LLC, and AstraZeneca, PLC) as well as smaller biotech and start-up companies.

Joe has been involved in taking assets from pre-clinical development through to regulatory approval across several cancer indications, including the anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab (GAZYVA®), and more recently has worked on the development of several BTK inhibitors (BTKi), with very close involvement in the recently approved BTKi acalabrutinib (CALQUENCE®) for CLL/MCL.

Joe also has experience in the solid tumor setting, working on the PARP inhibitor olaparib (ovarian and gastric cancer), IRESSA® (NSCLC), PDL-1/CTLA4 (SCLC) as well as involvement in the cellular therapy field, working on products such as CAR-T, TILs and TCR.

Joe has broad Phase 1-3 clinical trial experience accompanied by experience in business development activities including licensing.

Joe holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics from King’s College London/UCL.

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