board of directors
- André J. Mueller, Chairman
- Vincent Mutel, Vice Chairman & CEO
- Ray Hill, former Head of EU Licensing, Merck & Co., Inc.
- Jacques Theurillat, former Deputy CEO, Serono
- Werner Henrich, Chairman of Basilea
- Andrew Galazka, SVP Scientific Affairs, Merck-Serono
- Antoine Papiernik, Sofinnova Partners
- Deborah Harland, SR One
- Beat E. Lüthi, CEO of CTC Analytics
André J. Mueller, Chairman
Mr. Mueller has extensive experience in creating and running successful biopharmaceutical companies. He is vice chairman of Actelion (SWX:ATLN) and a board member of Synthes (SWX:SYST). He also is chairman of French cardiovascular disease startup company Cerenis Therapeutics. Mr. Mueller was closely involved in starting up Actelion, where he was CFO for 5 years. 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. André 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. Mr. Mueller 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.
Vincent Mutel, Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Mutel has broad experience in drug development, from discovery screening through to the start of human clinical development. Before co-founding Addex in 2002, he was Head of the Pharmacology Group in the Central Nervous System diseases department at Roche. At Roche, where he worked for 15 years, he coordinated the research activities of several laboratories involved in drug discovery and development. He also was a member of Roche’s Board of Research Area Heads, which contributed to Roche’s research strategy. Dr. Mutel is a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd, a drug discovery company focused on ion channels. He is a coauthor of over 60 research publications and co-inventor on 20 patents for CNS drugs.
Ray Hill
Dr. Hill will assume his duties as a board member on May 1, 2008. From 2002 until he retires 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, Imperial College London, Visiting Industrial Professor of Pharmacology in 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 a Director and Trustee of the Babraham Institute, Cambridge. 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.
Jacques Theurillat
Mr. Theurillat is the former deputy CEO and SVP Corporate Strategic Development at Serono. From 2002 to 2006 he also held the title President of Marketing & Sales Europe and International. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Serono from 2000 to 2006 and served as Serono’s CFO from 1996 to 2002. He began his career with Serono in 1987 and was a managing director of Serono operations in Italy. Mr Theurillat has law degrees from Madrid University, holds a Swiss Federal Diploma (Tax Expert) and an MBA from Madrid School of Finance.
Andrew Galazka
Dr. Andrew Galazka joined the biotech industry over 23 years ago and has held a variety of senior management positions. He was appointed Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Head of Autoimmune and Emerging Therapies at the newly formed Merck Serono, in January 2007. Prior to the acquisition of Serono by Merck, he was Head of New Therapies at Serono and directed business strategy in new areas, like oncology. He played a key role in listing Serono’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2000. Mr. Galazka joined Serono in 1990 and directed the worldwide pre-clinical and clinical development of the company’s leading biotechnology drugs including: Gonal-F, Rebif 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. He has been a lecturer since 2002 in the Executive MBA course of the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne).
Werner Henrich
Mr. Henrich is a veteran in the pharmaceutical industry with experience in startup companies and big pharma. He was involved in the creation of Basilea (SWX:BSLN), where he is Chairman. He worked for Roche for more than 30 years, holding a variety of positions, including Head of Global Intellectual Property and Pharmaceutical Licensing for more than 12 years. Mr. Henrich was responsible for the intellectual property activities of all Roche divisions and for major Pharmaceutical transactions including research collaborations, patent settlements, in- and out-licensing as well as drug acquisitions. He was a member of the Roche Pharmaceutical Division Executive Board. He retired from Roche in November 2003. Mr. Henrich. He was educated as a chemist and as a European patent attorney.
Antoine Papiernik
Mr. Papiernik is managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997. Mr. Papiernik has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He started his career in Private Equity in the Caisse des Dépôts group, first with CDCParticipations, then in its newly formed venture capital arm CDC-Innovation where he invested exclusively in life sciences. Since joining Sofinnova Partners, Mr. Papiernik has been an initial investor and board member of companies like Actelion (SWX:ATLN) and NovusPharma (which listed on the Milan stock exchange before merging with Cell Therapeutics, NASDAQ:CTIC). He also is an investor and board member of Biolipox, Diatos, Fovea, Lectus and Movetis.
Deborah Harland
Dr. Harland is general partner of SR One, the venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Harland leads the firm's European activities. She also has board seats at PharmaKodex and Syntaxin and is an observer on the boards of 7TM and Resistentia. Prior to joining SR One in 2005, Dr. Harland was part of GSK's Worldwide Business Development team where she was responsible for sourcing and evaluating in-licensing opportunities in the Psychiatry, Neurology and Gastrointestinal therapeutic areas. During her time with Business Development Dr. Harland led due diligence teams associated with successful in-licensing of preclinical and marketed products as well as a multiple-asset research and development collaboration. Prior to that Dr. Harland held positions of increasing responsibility within SmithKline Beecham's development organisation covering clinical development, medical affairs, medical communications, medical marketing and business development support. She holds a BSc. (Hons.) in Pharmacology from the University of Bath, a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of London, and an MBA from Henley Management College.
Beat E. Lüthi
Dr. Lüthi 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 (ETH) and attended the Senior Management Program at INSEAD. He is a member of the board of directors of Bossard Holding AG, Stadler Rail Group AG and Uster Technologies Ltd.