Chas Bountra, Ph.D., is the Executive Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer at BPGbio, where he leads all research and development activities spanning from early discovery to pre-NDA strategy and execution. In this role, he manages both internal and external innovation initiatives, partnering with government agencies, academic institutions, and industry collaborators to drive transformative drug discovery. He also oversees the advancement of the company’s early- and mid-stage pipeline, with a particular focus on programs related to NAi.

Prior to joining BPGbio, Dr. Bountra served as Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Oxford, where he was also Chief Scientist of the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC). Over his distinguished career, he has been an invited expert for government and charitable research funding bodies and has advised numerous academic, biotech, and pharmaceutical drug discovery programs.

Dr. Bountra was Vice President and Head of Biology at GlaxoSmithKline, contributing to the identification of more than 40 clinical candidates across gastrointestinal, inflammatory, and neuropsychiatric diseases. More than 20 of these advanced into patient studies, with over five achieving successful proof-of-concept and progressing to late-stage development.

He played a pivotal role in the development of the first treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Alosetron) and was the first to demonstrate the anti-emetic potential of neurokinin NK1 antagonists in preclinical and clinical studies.

Dr. Bountra is widely recognized for his contributions to translational research and open innovation in drug discovery. He has delivered more than 300 invited lectures, was named one of the “top innovators in the industry” by Pharmaphorum.com in 2012, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2018 for his services to translational medical research.