David Venables is CEO of Laverock Therapeutics, leading the company through its formation, and initial seed funding and establishment of strategic focus and organization development.

Prior to this he was President, AskBio Europe, following the acquisition of Synpromics Ltd, where he was CEO. AskBio is a world leading gene therapy company which was acquired by Bayer in 2020. As CEO of Synpromics, he led the growth of the company through a strategic refocusing in the field of gene therapy, becoming market leader in gene control and synthetic promoter development, two rounds of funding and an exit through the acquisition by AskBio. He previously has served as: VP – CMC for NightstaRx, an ophthalmology focused gene therapy company acquired by Biogen. Having performed the CMC due diligence on behalf of Syncona Partners leading up to their investment he then established the development and manufacturing strategy and partnerships required to take product development through to licensure; CEO of Anatara Therapeutics (a life sciences company he managed through private fund raising and IPO in Australia); CEO of Ark Therapeutics with responsibility for leading the company through a transition to a viral contract development and manufacturing service model and ultimately a sale of the business assets. Previously at Intercell, he was responsible for building vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Europe and the USA. As Site Head for vaccine manufacturing operations in the UK he was responsible for the European and US licensure, pre-approval inspection and commercial supply of Ixiaro®, a Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, followed as Chief Operating Officer of the vaccine development operations of Intercell USA Inc. based in Maryland, USA.

He also serves on the Boards of Concinnity Genetics, Axol Biosciences, and NovalGen and is Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University.