Gavin Bennett

Having completed his PhD in Pharmacology at King’s College London (supervised by Prof. Sue Brain) Gavin has on small and large molecules, across a range of indications including inflammation, neuroscience and oncology, in academia, large Pharma and small biotechs. Most recently, Gavin works on a novel drug modality, bicyclic peptides, developed from a proprietary platform built on the Nobel Prize-wining phage display technology of our founder, Sir Greg Winter. As a pharmacologist, Gavin worked with the in-house chemists, biologists and external academic and CRO partners, to define the key attributes and PK-PD of bicyclic peptides and conjugates based on them. As a result of these activities, multiple Bicycle-based molecules have entered clinical development, mostly for oncology. Gavin led the preclinical and clinical development of a number of Bicycle Toxin Conjugates, including BT5528, a conjugate targeting EphA2. By utilizing the differentiated PK-PD profile of Bicycle conjugates, BT5528 has demonstrated promising early efficacy in urothelial cancer, as well as other indications, without the dose-limiting toxicities shown by antibody-based conjugates targeting EphA2.