André J. Mueller, Chairman
Mr. Mueller was born in 1944 and is a Swiss citizen. He has extensive experience in creating and running successful biopharmaceutical companies. He is a board member of Synthes Inc. (SIX:SYST). He also is chairman of French cardiovascular disease startup company Cerenis Therapeutics. Mr. Mueller was closely involved in starting up Actelion Ltd (SIX:ATLN), where he was CFO for 5 years and vice chairman until April 2009. He also was the first VP of Finance and Administration and later, CFO, at Biogen (now Biogen Idec), where he oversaw several financing rounds, including Biogen’s IPO. Mr. Mueller started his career with CIBA Ltd and Sandoz (now Novartis) where he held a number of managerial positions in the Pharma, Plant Protection and Finance divisions both at headquarters in Basel and in the U.S. He was a Founding Partner and Director of Investments for Genevest, the first Swiss venture capital organization. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Geneva and an MBA from INSEAD.
Andrew Galazka
Dr. Galazka was born in 1955 and is a Swiss and UK citizen. Following a clinical career in the UK he joined the biotech industry over 25 years ago and has held a variety of senior management positions principally in drug development. He was appointed Senior Vice President and head of Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases at the newly formed Merck Serono, in January 2007. Prior to the acquisition of Serono by Merck, he held several senior management positions at Serono, most recently being SVP and head of New Therapies. In 2000 he played a key role in listing Serono’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). During his first 10 years with Serono he directed the worldwide pre-clinical and clinical development of the company’s main biotechnology drugs: Rebif, Gonal-F and Saizen. In the 1980s, he was director of clinical research at Biogen (Europe) and Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKline). He received his medical degree (with distinction) from Cambridge University in 1978 following a degree in pathology and pharmacology. Since 2002 he has been a lecturer in the Executive MBA course of the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne).
Ray Hill
Dr. Hill was born in 1945 and is a UK citizen. From 2002 until he retired on April 30, 2008, Dr. Hill was Executive Director, Licensing and External Research, Europe for Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. From 1997-2002 he was Executive Director, Pharmacology at the Neuroscience Research Centre engaged in drug discovery for Neuroscience indications at Merck. After joining Merck/MSD in 1990, Dr. Hill chaired a number of discovery project teams including those responsible for the marketed products Maxalt (for migraine) and Emend (for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting). Dr. Hill is currently Visiting Professor in Neuroscience and Mental Health and Honorary Business Development Advisor, Imperial College London; Visiting Industrial Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Bristol; Visiting Professor and Chairman of the External Advisory Board in the School of Biological and Health Sciences at the University of Surrey; and Visiting Professor in Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Strathclyde. He is currently President of the British Pharmacological Society. Dr Hill received BPharm and PhD degrees from the University of London. He was a lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Bristol School of Medicine from 1974 to 1983. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Orexo AB, Covagen AG and of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd.
Vincent Lawton
Mr. Lawton was born in 1949 and is a U.K. citizen. He was Managing Director of Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) U.K. and Vice President of MSD Europe, both subsidiaries of Merck & Co., Inc., until 2006, when he retired after 26 years of service at Merck. Also in 2006, the Queen of England appointed Mr. Lawton Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the Pharmaceutical Industry. During Mr. Lawton’s tenure, MSD UK achieved a high level of sustained success over many years and was the fastest growing company in the market. Mr. Lawton also spent time at Merck in France, the U.S., Canada and Spain, primarily in sales and marketing. From 2004–2006 he was president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. He was a founding member of the U.K. Clinical Research Collaboration, the Ministerial Industry Strategy Group, the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force, and helped establish the Ask About Medicines Campaign. Mr Lawton is a Non Executive Director of the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA. An Honorary Professor of the University of Wales, Mr Lawton holds undergraduate and PhD degrees in Psychology from University of London.
Beat E. Lüthi
Dr. Lüthi was born in 1962 and is a Swiss citizen. He is CEO of CTC Analytics, a leading mid-sized Swiss Laboratory Instrument Company in the field of chromatography automation. From 2003 to 2007 he headed the Laboratory Division of Mettler-Toledo. From 1998 to 2002 he was CEO of Feintool, a listed fineblanking company. From 1990 to 1998 he held various management positions at Mettler Toledo. Dr. Lüthi holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and attended the Senior Management Program at INSEAD. He is a member of the Board of Bossard Holding AG, Zug (SIX:BOS), Uster technologies Ltd, Uster (SIX:USTN) and Stadler Rail AG, Bussnang.
Vincent Mutel, Chief Executive Officer, Vice Chairman & Co-Founder
Dr. Mutel was born in 1958 and is a French citizen. Since co-founding Addex, he has overseen three rounds of private financing and the Addex IPO, totalling CHF243 million. In parallel, he has overseen growth of the organization to 140 staff, focused in three therapeutic areas, and the building of the allosteric modulator discovery and development platform. Under his leadership the Company signed three major drug development partnerships, two with Merck & Co., Inc. and one with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, representing CHF43 million in realized revenues to date and up to about USD1 billion in potential milestones plus royalties. At Roche, where he worked for 15 years, he was Head of Pharmacology in the CNS Diseases department and a member of the CNS Board of Research Area Heads, which contributed to Roche’s research strategy. Dr. Mutel is a co-author of over 60 research publications and co-inventor on over 20 patents for CNS drugs.
Antoine Papiernik
Mr. Papiernik was born in 1966 and is a French citizen. He is a Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners where he has been investing in life sciences since 1997. Previously he was with CDC-Innovation, the venture arm of the Caisse des Dépôts group. Since joining Sofinnova Partners, Mr. Papiernik has been an initial investor and active board member in public companies like Actelion, Addex, Orexo, NovusPharma and Movetis, which went public respectively on the Zurich stock exchange, the Stockholm stock exchange, the Milan Nuovo Mercato, and the Belgium Stock Exchange, in Cotherix (initially NASDAQ listed, then sold to Actelion), CoreValve (sold to Medtronic) and Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis). He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies CoAxia, EOS, Lectus, SpineVision and Stentys. Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.