Built by operators, for the programmes that matter

About Linchpin

Linchpin Bio was founded to close the gap between scientific insight and programme execution in early-stage drug development.

"I spent years watching promising drug development programmes slow down, stall, or fail, not because the science was wrong, but because the infrastructure around them wasn't there. The expertise existed. What was missing was coordination, continuity, and execution. I looked for a firm that could solve this. I couldn't find one. So we built Linchpin."

DR. GRAHAM SIMPSON · FOUNDER & CEO

Why Linchpin exists

Early-stage drug development is not short of expertise.

What it lacks is coordination, continuity, and execution.

The pattern repeats itself across the industry. A company with genuinely strong science. Capable people working hard. Multiple advisors and CRO relationships in place. And yet the programme is not moving at the pace the science deserves, because no one is pulling it together.

Disconnected consultants
CROs lacking context
No one owning the whole picture

The issue is rarely a lack of knowledge. It is a lack of coordinated, accountable execution across the development pathway. We created Linchpin to bridge this gap, from insight to execution.

Many advisors help interpret the science.
Few help deliver the programme.

What Linchpin is

We are your independent scientific and operational partner

Linchpin sits at the intersection of scientific expertise, development strategy, and operational delivery. We are not a CRO. We are not a traditional advisory firm. We have no investment mandate of our own. That independence, structural, not just claimed, is what allows us to function as a genuine partner rather than a vendor with an agenda.

Independent expertise. Integrated delivery. Real execution.

An independent partner
No CRO, platform, or investment bias. Our judgement works entirely in your interest.
A curated cross-disciplinary expert network
Senior specialists across drug discovery, translational science, CMC, regulatory, and clinical development, coordinated as one integrated team.
An execution-focused team
Delivering programmes, not just reports or recommendations.
An embedded partner
Working as part of your team, not above it, for as long as you need us.

Our origin

Founded on real-world experience

Graham Simpson founded Linchpin after close to two decades working at the heart of drug discovery and development: at GSK, at GTN, and at Dunad, and advising early-stage biotech companies navigating the same challenges Linchpin was built to solve. He has led drug discovery programmes from target identification through to IND and beyond, across multiple modalities and therapy areas, in large pharmaceutical organisations and in lean, early-stage biotech environments. He holds advanced degrees from the University of Strathclyde, the University of Bristol, and MIT, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar and 1851 Royal Commission Distinguished Scholar.

"The knowledge was there, distributed across consultants, CROs, and internal teams. What wasn't there was someone who owned the path between them, knew where the potholes were, and could navigate around them without losing time or capital. That's what I wanted Linchpin to be."

The team behind Linchpin

Linchpin was built by practitioners, not by consultants who observe from the outside. The founding team brings direct experience of the environments - the pressure, the pace, the trade-offs - that early-stage biotech teams navigate every day.

Founder and CEO

Graham Simpson

Drug discovery and development leader with close to two decades of experience across GSK, GTN, and Dunad. MIT Fulbright Scholar. Built Linchpin to provide the integrated execution capability he could not find elsewhere.

Chris Roberts

Managing Director, US

An operationally focused executive with over 25 years of experience in drug discovery, clinical development, and biotech financing. He has worked across pharma, public biotech, and start-ups, and has also worked as a VC-embedded entrepreneur. Based in Boston, he leads Linchpin’s US business development.

Founding Principal Consultant

Dan Thomas

Senior drug discovery expert and Founding Principal Consultant. Biology discipline leadership and business development. Extensive experience across early-stage biotech and pharmaceutical programmes.

Director of Operations and Strategy

Rotimi Osindero

Leads operational delivery and strategic development across Linchpin’s growing portfolio of client engagements. AI Governance Lead. Based in the UK.

Linchpin also operates through a growing US presence, led from Boston, serving North American clients and building relationships with the US venture and biotech community.

The network

A curated network of experienced biotech experts

Behind the founding team is a curated network of over 60 senior drug discovery and development experts - former biotech and pharmaceutical leaders, modality specialists, therapy area practitioners, and experienced operators - who have led programmes from concept through to clinical development.

Every expert in the Linchpin network has been selected for three things: technical depth in their discipline, a track record of delivering in lean, high-pressure environments, and the ability to work as part of an integrated team rather than as a standalone advisor.

What defines a Linchpin expert

Led projects that delivered real impact

Milestones reached, programmes advanced, companies moved forward

A contemporary, practical, hands-on understanding of real-world development challenges

A track record of moving programmes forward in lean, high-pressure environments

The ability to integrate within a cross-disciplinary team, not to operate in isolation

The Linchpin network makes that expertise available on the right terms: exactly when, and for exactly as long as, the programme requires it.

Position in the ecosystem

We connect specialist expertise with the people, partners and decisions that move your programme forward.

Not a CRO.
Not a traditional consultancy.
Not an investment fund.

We work alongside CROs, not in competition with them. We complement internal teams, not substitute for them. Our value is in the integration, the independent judgement, and the accountability for delivery that most models do not provide.

Where Linchpin sits

An independent partner that coordinates expertise and execution across the full development pathway

Work with Linchpin

When the team is stretched, the CROs are misaligned, or the next milestone feels further away than it should, that is precisely when expert, embedded support makes the greatest difference.

Your science deserves execution that matches it.

Let’s talk.

Talk to Linchpin