Mark Gallop, Ph.D., is a biotechnology consultant specializing in drug discovery strategy and technology, with emphasis in oncology, neuroscience, gastrointestinal disorders, and prodrug design.
He joined Light Horse Therapeutics in January 2022 as interim CEO, later serving as President and, since September 2024, as Strategic Advisor. From 2018 to 2021, he was a Venture Advisor at 5AM Ventures, supporting company creation and serving as acting CSO for Nido Biosciences and Biodesy/BlueLight Therapeutics.
In 2017, Mark co-founded Rubedo Life Sciences, advancing therapeutics targeting cellular senescence in cancer, fibrosis, and aging. He helped raise $33M in early financing and now serves as Non-Executive Chairman. Previously, as founding CSO of Nurix, Inc. (2012–2017), he built the scientific team, raised $28M in venture funding, and secured a $150M collaboration with Celgene.
Earlier, Mark co-founded XenoPort, Inc., where his team discovered Horizant™ (gabapentin enacarbil), approved for restless legs syndrome and neuropathic pain. He co-invented four additional clinical candidates and contributed to raising over $300M in capital. Before that, he led combinatorial chemistry at Affymax, co-inventing DNA-encoded library technology and contributing to its $532M acquisition by Glaxo.
Mark is an inventor on more than 130 patents and author of 70 publications, including a landmark 1994 review on combinatorial chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Cambridge and was a Lindemann Fellow at UC Berkeley.