Ashok Bhandari
Executive Vice President & Chief Discovery Officer Protagonist Therapeutics
Dr. Bhandari has served as Executive Vice President & Chief Discovery Officer since January 2022 and has served as Senior Vice President and Vice President of Chemistry and Process Research from 2017 to 2021. Ashok joined Protagonist in 2011 as Director of Chemistry and focused on the discovery of novel peptide therapeutics leading to Protagonist’s clinical pipeline. Prior to joining Protagonist, Dr. Bhandari worked at Affymax for 14 years, from 1994 to 2008, where he worked on a variety of peptide drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development programs on targets of protein-protein interactions. Dr. Bhandari received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and conducted his post-doctoral work also at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Seminars
- Designing a differentiated Triple-G agonist by optimizing GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptor potency ratios to balance tolerability, metabolic efficacy, and weight loss potential
- Applying Protagonist’s oral peptide discovery platform to engineer PN-477 as both an oral and subcutaneous candidate, overcoming traditional challenges in peptide stability, potency, and delivery
- Translating molecular design into preclinical performance through receptor pharmacology, PK profiling, and in vivo efficacy studies demonstrating robust weight-loss potential across multiple animal models
