Meet Kevin Kreutter

Kevin has more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery. During his time at J&J/Janssen, he was co-inventor of several clinical and developmental candidates, including safimaltib and lorpucitinib, and has since built a track record spanning more than 30 patents and 20 publications across immunology, oncology, metabolic, and cardiovascular disease.

At Empress Therapeutics, Kevin is advancing a new approach to small molecule discovery through the company’s Chemilogics platform, which uses synthetic biology and AI to identify drug-like molecules encoded in genetic data. Under his leadership, Empress has discovered 15 promising drug leads in 24 months, supporting the company’s goal of translating human biology into new small molecule medicines.

“My uncle gave me a microscope when I was 12, and the rest is history. I became a science fair kid and never looked back. Years later, it has been a real privilege to give back as a science fair organizer and to give talks in classrooms on drug discovery. Just sharing a bit of the excitement of discovery and the scientific method goes a long way. Everyone, from kindergarten up, can understand how important this work is.”