Brian McGuinness

Background

Brian is a biotechnology executive who has spent his career at the intersection of platform technology evaluation and strategic partnership management. His experience spans both sides of the table — building and partnering platform companies, and evaluating them for investment and acquisition.

Most recently, he served as Vice President, Business Development at Bicycle Therapeutics, where he led search and evaluation for the company's bicyclic peptide platform and ran the alliance management function overseeing collaborations with AstraZeneca, Genentech, and Ionis.

Previously, Brian was a founding team member at Crescendo Biologics, joining before the company secured initial funding. He authored the business plan that raised the seed round, shaped the company's early scientific strategy, and managed ongoing partnerships with Takeda and Cancer Research UK as the company grew through a €57 million Series B.

Earlier in his career, Brian spent 14 years at AstraZeneca and Cambridge Antibody Technology evaluating biologics collaboration and licensing opportunities across platforms and therapeutic areas — experience that built the foundation for his systematic approach to technology assessment.

Areas of Expertise

• Platform Technology Evaluation: Systematic assessment of biologics discovery platforms across monoclonal antibodies, single-domain antibodies, peptides, and targeted payload delivery; competitive landscape analysis; evaluation for partnering, investment, and acquisition
• Pharma Alliance Management: Governance of complex partnerships including joint steering committees, milestone tracking, and ongoing partner communication across multi-year collaborations
• Platform Company Partnering: Positioning novel discovery technologies for partnership; structuring evaluation agreements, option deals, and technology access arrangements
  
  

Education

• MBA, The Open University Business School
• PhD, Meningococcal Vaccine Development, University of Southampton
• BSc (Hons), Microbiology, University of Bristol