Menelas Pangalos

Venture Partner

Sir Menelas (Mene) Pangalos was EVP R&D AstraZeneca from 2010-2024. He led the transformation of AstraZeneca's R&D productivity through the development and implementation of the “5R” framework resulting in a greater than four-fold increase in success rates compared to industry averages. In parallel, he has championed an open approach to working with academic and other external partners, changing the nature of academic-industry collaboration. Mene previously held senior R&D roles at Wyeth and GSK.

Mene holds Honorary Doctorates from Glasgow University and Imperial College, London, is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society of Biology and Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. Mene was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the British Pharmacological Society. He is a Visiting Professor at The Wolfson Centre at Kings College, a Prof at Manchester University and an honorary professor of Cambridge University Medical School.

He has co-chaired the UK Life Sciences Council Expert Group on Innovation, Clinical Research and Data and was a member of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Implementation Board. Mene is on the Boards of The Francis Crick Institute, The Judge Business School, Cambridge University and Absci Corporation.

Mene was awarded the 2019 Prix Galien Medal, Greece for his scientific research and named Executive of the Year at the 2019 Scrip Awards. In 2019, Mene was awarded the honor of a Knighthood by Her Majesty The Queen for his services to UK science.

Mene oversaw the creation of AstraZeneca’s new Global R&D Centre in Cambridge – a state of the art facility designed to stimulate collaborative scientific innovation. Mene led and oversaw AstraZeneca’s R&D response to COVID-19; maintaining existing clinical trials and delivery of medicines to patients, responding to the UK government’s call for supporting our national testing effort, and discovering and developing new preventative and treatment approaches to the disease. This work involved partnering with Oxford University in the global development of a vaccine and ensuring broad an equitable access at no profit during the pandemic, the discovery and development of a long-acting antibody combination for those who can’t be vaccinated, as well as exploring our existing portfolio as potential treatment options against the disease. The team were awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 2023.