Peter Richardson

Peter Richardson

Peter Richardson is Vice President of Pharmacology at BenevolentAI. Peter led BenevolentAI’s research to identify baricitinib, a drug owned by Eli Lilly and approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, as a COVID-19 treatment that is now FDA approved as a treatment for hospitalised patients with COVID-19.

Over a career spanning 46 years, Peter has helped translate biomedical research into medical breakthroughs. From 1989 to 2006, he was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Pharmacology, where he pioneered research into drug discovery for Parkinson’s disease and inflammation. His work led to the development of an A2A adenosine receptor antagonist (istradefylline) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and the understanding of the potential for CXCR4 antagonists in glioblastoma treatment. In 2001, Peter co-founded Cambridge Biotechnology (CBT) and served as CSO and Executive Director until 2005. Peter pioneered the sale of CBT to Proximagen Ltd, to whom he acted as an adviser until 2012. 

Peter studied Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, earned a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, and is the author of over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers.