DMPK Senior Scientist / Lead Scientist and Project Representative

Nxera Pharma; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player in the biopharma sector is seeking a DMPK Senior Scientist to join their dynamic team in Cambridge. This role offers the chance to work on groundbreaking drug discovery projects, leveraging advanced methodologies and a unique computational design platform. You will play a crucial role in characterizing drug candidates, ensuring their quality and efficacy, while collaborating with a diverse team of experts. The company is committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment, providing opportunities for personal and professional growth. Join a mission-driven organization dedicated to improving patient lives through innovative therapies.

Benefits

State-of-the-art R&D centre

Competitive compensation package

Discretionary cash bonuses

Restricted Stock Units

26 days annual leave

Enhanced pension contribution

Private Medical Insurance

Subsidised gym membership

Income protection

Group Death in Service

Qualifications

• Educated to at least degree level with 3+ years’ experience in lead optimisation.
• Good technical knowledge of ADME/PK principles and drug design.

Responsibilities

• Design in vitro ADME and in vivo PK experiments.
• Interpret ADME/PK data to aid drug design and optimization.
• Characterize DMPK and PKPD properties of molecules.

Skills

ADME/PK principles

problem solving

critical thinking

interpersonal skills

communication skills

multi-project management

Education

Degree in relevant field

Tools

PBPK modelling software

GastroPlus

Phoenix/WinNonLin

Job description

DMPK Senior Scientist / Lead Scientist and Project Representative

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Nxera Pharma (formerly Sosei Heptares) is a technology powered biopharma company, in pursuit of new speciality medicines to improve the lives of patients with unmet needs globally.

Nxera employs over 350 talented people at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).

In addition to several products being commercialized in Japan, we are advancing an extensive pipeline of over 30 active programs from discovery through to late clinical stage internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies including Lilly, GSK, AbbVie, Verily, Neurocrine, Takeda, Genentech/Roche, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Medicxi, Aditum Bio.

This pipeline is focused on addressing major unmet needs in some of the fastest-growing areas of medicine across CNS, GI and immunology, metabolic disorders and rare diseases, and leverages the power of our unique and industry leading GPCR-targeted structure-based drug discovery “NxWave” platform to provide a sustainable source of best- or first-in-class candidates.

In Cambridge UK, we have built outstanding capabilities across our platform, discovery and translational medicine teams, to advance multiple programs from pre-clinical through to early clinical development.

In Tokyo, our expert teams are dedicated to late-stage development (Ph 2/3) and innovative commercialization/ go-to-market approaches.

Our Mission

To accelerate the development of life-changing medicines, by investing in science and technology.

Our Vision

To lead the next era of medicine. From Japan, for Japan, and the world.

Our Values

• Patients, carers, families, and physicians come first
• Innovation and teamwork inspire success
• Focus on top priorities where we can make a difference
• Speed and agility of decision-making
• Operational excellence

We are passionate about improving the quality of life and health of people around the world and believe we can achieve our mission through providing a supportive, motivational, and empowering environment for employees.

We are proud to offer a collaborative, diverse and inclusive working environment that considers your individual needs and believes in maintaining a sustainable work-life balance.

You will be welcomed by a team of colleagues with decades of accumulated experience in their areas of expertise, happy to help you develop your own skills in a highly collaborative environment and who are keen to provide guidance and support in your personal and career development plans.

We are keen to recruit an experienced and highly motivated scientist to join the DMPK team at Nxera Pharma, based in Cambridge. As a member of the DMPK team, you will be responsible for providing expertise to multidisciplinary pre-clinical drug discovery projects, applying your knowledge and technical expertise to quantitatively characterise the ADME/PK and pharmacodynamics of drug candidates to ensure the delivery of high quality drug candidates to the clinic.

This is an exciting position, leveraging our NxWave platform to support structure-based computational design in drug discovery projects and develop novel methodology/workflows for wider utility.

Responsibilities

In this role, the successful candidate will be responsible for:

• The design of in vitro ADME and in vivo PK experiments
• Interpretation and communication of ADME/PK data to drug discovery projects to aid effective drug design and molecule optimization
• Highlight any potential risks within a chemical series and design appropriate strategies to mitigate
• Contribute to the design of in vivo efficacy studies to ensure high quality data are generated for PKPD modelling
• Characterise the DMPK and PKPD properties of molecules that underpin human PK predictions in order to make early assessment of dose
• Play a vital role along with Safety to provide early insight into safety margins and risk of DILI.
• Fully characterize molecules to support transition into development

Required:

• Educated to at least degree level with ideally 3+ years’ relevant experience in lead optimisation, candidate profiling, preclinical development
• Good technical knowledge of ADME/PK principles and good understanding of the relationship between PhysChem properties and drug design
• Familiar with methods for performing human PK predictions.
• Proven track record of problem solving and demonstration of critical thinking.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills and ability to work in a matrix environment with team members having diverse professional backgrounds
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced dynamic environment across multiple projects with tight deadlines and evolving priorities
• Experience of PBPK modelling software such as GastroPlus would be ideal but not a requirement as training can be provided
• Experience gained across multiple therapeutic areas would be an advantage and may include Metabolic, CNS, Immuno, GI disorders.
• Experience of Phoenix/WinNonLin PK analysis software.

Other information

What’s in it for you?

• State-of-the-art R&D centre located in the heart of the Cambridge science cluster
• Competitive compensation package including discretionary cash bonuses
• Eligible for grants of Restricted Stock Units
• 26 days annual leave in addition to public holidays plus the option to purchase an additional 5 days each year
• Enhanced employer contribution to pension
• Private Medical Insurance for employees and family and a cash plan for dental and optical reimbursement
• Health and wellbeing benefits including a subsidised individual gym membership
• Income protection to cover long term absences due to ill health
• Group Death in Service equal to 4x basic annual salary

At Nxera Pharma, we are passionate about delivering life-changing medicines to patients. We foster an open and welcoming environment where everyone can bring their authentic self to work, harnessing our individual strengths to succeed together.

We value our culture rooted in a diverse mix of minds, backgrounds, and abilities, with a deep sense of belonging. For us, inclusiveness is a reflex, not an initiative.

We are achieving this through a consistent commitment to fairness, equal opportunity, and equity.

Applications should include a CV and covering letter, providing a short description of the background of your interest in the role.

Please email: [e-mail]