Allard Kaptein

Allard was EVP Discovery at Acerta Pharma (now part of AstraZeneca). He was one of the founders of Acerta Pharma and played a crucial role in licensing exclusive rights to what later became the now FDA and EMA approved drug acalabrutinib. He led the preclinical activities for acalabrutinib towards IND approval, as well as drug discovery activities at the Acerta Pharma site in the Netherlands for new targets in the treatment of hematological malignancies.
‍

Before Acerta Pharma, Allard has led multi-disciplinary teams in Lead Generation and Lead Optimization at MSD, Schering Plough, Organon, with multiple programs having progressed to the preclinical and clinical development stage.
‍

Allard joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1994 and worked in different project and line management positions at Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome, Organon, Schering Plough and MSD, on cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease and oncology. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Allard did his PhD studies in Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the Leiden University/Gaubius Institute TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands.