
Jeff Zablocki
VP, Head of Chemistry
Dr. Jeff Zablocki is an experienced leader of Chemistry having led teams at AbbVie, Gilead, CV Therapeutics, Amgen, and Searle. Jeff has discovered 15 development compounds including 3 approved agents: Lexiscan™ – an adenosine A2A agonist used in over 60 million patients as a pharmacological stress agent capturing a large market share; Ranexa™ – provided development support for the approval of Ranexa™ for stable angina; Voxilaprevir™ – contributed to the discovery of Voxilaprevir™ for Hepatitis C where Jeff helped address pre-clinical metabolism challenges applying novel medicinal chemistry approaches.
Prior to joining Bluejay, Jeff was head of chemistry at AbbVie’s west coast oncology efforts where a covalent Bruton Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) inhibitor ABBV-992 was advanced to Ph1 clinical trials and multiple oncology programs were advanced. While at AbbVie, Jeff served on AbbVie’s Medicinal Chemistry Leadership Team (MCLT) evaluating programs and providing strategic direction. Before joining AbbVie, Jeff was a Senior Director at Gilead Sciences serving as a member of their Project Review Committee (PRC) providing critical feedback on all programs. While at Gilead, Jeff contributed to the discovery of 8 development compounds including the approved Hepatitis C NS3/4A protease inhibitor, a Ph I immunomodulator Selgantolimod for Hepatitis B, a Ph III late Ina sodium channel inhibitor Eleclazine for VT-VF, a Phase II ASK-1 kinase inhibitor Selonsertib for NASH, and a Ph I ALDH-2 inhibitor GS-6637 for addiction. Prior to Gilead, Jeff was head of chemistry at CV Therapeutics where beyond Lexiscan™ and Ranexa™ Jeff discovered a Ph I partial adenosine A1 agonist for type II diabetes and a Ph II adenosine A2B antagonist for asthma. Jeff led the collaborations with Dr. Frantisek Rypacek from Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic to discover drug eluting stents and Dr. Gloria Cristalli to discover partial adenosine A1 agonists.
Jeff has served as the Chair of the ACS MEDI division and the Long-Range Planning Committee (LRPC). He had the forethought to propose a COVID-19 symposium in Feb. of 2020 that took place in April of 2021 where he provided the introductory remarks. Jeff also served as an Associate editor for the J of Med. Chem. starting the popular Drug Annotations series. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society for his service to medicinal chemistry. Jeff is highly creative and well published with 126 patents and 61 publications. Jeff received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Dr. John Katzenellenbogen and completed his studies at UC Irvine with a NIH post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Larry Overman.