Richard Lesniewski

Biography

Richard (Rick) Lesniewski, Ph.D. is an independent pharmaceutical consultant following careers at Abbott Laboratories (North Chicago) and GlaxoSmithKline (Philadelphia). As Vice President of Oncology Biopharmaceuticals at GSK (2009-2011), Rick established a new Biopharmaceutical Drug Performance Unit (DPU) within GSK’s Global Oncology Business Unit. He initiated GSK’s relationship with Seattle Genetics for antibody drug conjugates and started their immunomodulation program with a PD-1 antagonist (AMP-224, Amplimmune, Rockville, MD) for patients with cancer and chronic viral infections. Rick coordinated efforts with GSK’s Biopharmaceutical Unit in the UK to establish a pipeline of validated cancer targets and to progress multiple antibody drug conjugates and immunologically-enhanced antibodies to clinical readiness. Prior to joining GSK, Rick had a 25-year career with Abbott Laboratories (1983-2009) where he led teams in discovery of novel viral diagnostic tests, and helped Abbott Diagnostics Division develop and launch their franchise leadership in hepatitis C virus blood screening assays (1983-1995). Rick then joined Abbott’s Global Pharmaceutical

Research Interest

Richard (Rick) Lesniewski, Ph.D. is an independent pharmaceutical consultant following careers at Abbott Laboratories (North Chicago) and GlaxoSmithKline (Philadelphia). As Vice President of Oncology Biopharmaceuticals at GSK (2009-2011), Rick established a new Biopharmaceutical Drug Performance Unit (DPU) within GSK’s Global Oncology Business Unit. He initiated GSK’s relationship with Seattle Genetics for antibody drug conjugates and started their immunomodulation program with a PD-1 antagonist (AMP-224, Amplimmune, Rockville, MD) for patients with cancer and chronic viral infections. Rick coordinated efforts with GSK’s Biopharmaceutical Unit in the UK to establish a pipeline of validated cancer targets and to progress multiple antibody drug conjugates and immunologically-enhanced antibodies to clinical readiness. Prior to joining GSK, Rick had a 25-year career with Abbott Laboratories (1983-2009) where he led teams in discovery of novel viral diagnostic tests, and helped Abbott Diagnostics Division develop and launch their franchise leadership in hepatitis C virus blood screening assays (1983-1995). Rick then joined Abbott’s Global Pharmaceutical