Dr. Chris Sheldon

Bio:

Chris is currently Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development R&D for GSK based in the UK. Chris and his team are responsible for all of GSK's business development activities globally covering the scouting & evaluating, transacting and alliance management of all new investment opportunities.

Chris and his team led the recent $1.2B acquisition of Boston Pharmaceuticals for efimosfermin, a phase III potential best-in-class medicine to treat and prevent progression of steatotic liver disease (SLD) and  $1B acquisition of IDrX for a highly selective KIT tyrosine kinase inhibitor designed to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Other deals at GSK include the $2B acquisition of Bellus Health for phase-III camlipixant in refractory chronic cough and the $1B acquisition of Aiolos Bio for a phase II-ready, long-acting antibody targeting the clinically validated TSLP pathway for asthma both adding to GSK’s respiratory medicines portfolio. In addition, two licensing deals were struck with Hansoh Pharma for novel antibody-drug conjugates & a third with WuXi Biologics for bi- & multi-specific T cell engagers in oncology as well as a broad strategic collaboration with Hengrui for up to 12 medicines including a Phase I PDE3/4 inhibitor for COPD. Finally in the area of infectious disease, a peer licensing deal with Janssen for a phase II-ready siRNA for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Prior to this Chris worked in the UK at AstraZeneca (AZ) for over 19 years. Chris held the roles of Vice President & Head of Oncology Business Development in Oncology Research & Development as well as Vice President & Head of Investor Relations. 

Chris and his team led the evaluation and investment cases for AZ’s major $6.9B and $6B clinical stage co-development/co-promotion deals with Daiichi-Sankyo for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) and DS-1062 (datopotomab deruxtecan), both novel antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). Chris also led AZ’s $6.4B acquisition of Acerta Pharma for Calquence (acalabrutinib), a best-in-class BTK inhibitor in haematology.

Before his business development career, Chris worked in discovery research at AZ as a Senior Research Chemist. He also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Bristol, UK and a first class honours degree from the University of Sheffield, UK.