Yasong Lu, PhD
Senior Director, Head of Pharmacometrics, Bicycle Therapeutics Inc.
My name is Yasong Lu, and I currently serve as Senior Director, Head of Pharmacometrics at Bicycle Therapeutics Inc. I was born and raised in eastern China, and studied preventive medicine in undergraduate and environmental health in a master program at Shanghai Medical University. I was admitted in 2001 to Dr. Raymond S.H. Yang’s lab at Colorado State University for PhD training in quantitative toxicology. That was where I first learned PBPK/PD modeling; I was passionate about quantitative modeling and its applications as a compensation to my zero interest in lab work. In July 2001, Dr. Holly Kimko, who I had the privilege to meet at a workshop, kindly advised me what papers on PK/PD modeling I should study if I would like to go into the pharma industry. But it was only 5 ½ years later that I started reading those papers really carefully, after Dr. Tristan Maurer offered me a position in his preclinical PK/PD modeling group at Pfizer. My Pfizer experience, just shy of 6 years, trained me how to understand and support drug discovery, and, to some extent, clinical development from quantitative pharmacology perspective. It laid a solid foundation for my career development and advancement.
In late 2012, I concluded I was reasonably mature as a preclinical modeler and decided to start a journey in clinical development. So, I joined Bristol-Myers Squibb as a pharmacometrician. The highly rewarding 3 ½ years at BMS exposed me to several learning and growth opportunities, including PopPK/PD modeling and simulations, pediatric clinical trial simulations, fit-for-purpose QSP modeling, MBMA, Bayesian modeling, and leading a first-in-human study (of an asset now marketed as SOTYKTU) with a clinical pharmacology & pharmacometrics dual role. In 2016, I took an opportunity at Novartis to support the NDA of ribociclib (KISQALI) as the lead pharmacometrician, because I thought that filing experience was essential for my professional development. Three years later, I decided to move to Daiichi Sankyo for the opportunity to work on exciting ADCs with broader responsibilities. These three pharmacometrics jobs over a span of 11 years, along with the interactions with numerous fantastical managers, mentors, and colleagues, greatly enhanced my skills and abilities in planning and executing analyses, communicating with collaborating functions, strategic thinking in pharmametric plans at the project and multi-project levels, and eventually shaped me into a confident and effective pharmacometrician. In early 2023, I convinced myself that it was time for me to transition from an individual contributor role to a function head type of role. So I joined Bicycle Therapeutics in July to lead the pharmametrics function, supporting a really exciting portfolio of new modalities.
On my personal life, I live with my wife and two school-age children in central NJ. My daily routine for relaxing includes 1 h of walk/jogging and a few minutes of practicing Chinese calligraphy. I enjoy Youtube on miscellaneous topics, e.g., history, science, math, sociology, economics, movie recap.
A fun fact about me: I had used wine as a medicine for my sleep problem for 5 years; it worked marvelously.