board of directors
- André J. Mueller, Chairman
- Andrew Galazka, SVP Scientific Affairs, Merck-Serono
- Ray Hill, former Head of EU Licensing, Merck & Co., Inc.
- Vincent Lawton, former MD of Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) U.K. and VP of MSD EU
- Beat E. Lüthi, CEO of CTC Analytics
- Vincent Mutel, Vice Chairman & CEO of Addex
- Antoine Papiernik, Sofinnova Partners
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 vice chairman of Actelion Ltd (SIX:ATLN) and 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, 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. 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 US. 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 British 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 a Trustee and President-Elect 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 and of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd, and a part-time Venture Advisor to Sofinnova Partners.
Vincent Lawton
Mr. Lawton was Managing Director of Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) U.K. and Vice President of MSD Europe, both subsidiaries of Merck & Co., Inc. In 2006 he retired from Merck after 26 years service. Mr. Lawton oversaw the growth of MSD UK, while it launched 11 new products onto the market and became the highest performing Merck subsidiary outside the U.S for a number of blockbuster products. 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 founder 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. In 2006 he was appointed CBE by the Queen of England for services to the Pharmaceutical Industry. 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, Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Mutel was born in 1958 and is a French citizen. Since co-founding Addex he has overseen the discovery and development of multiple products, including ADX10059, an internally discovered allosteric modulator, which is currently in Phase IIb clinical testing. During this time the Company signed drug development partnerships with Merck & Co., Inc. and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company. He also oversaw the Addex IPO and three rounds of private financing totaling CHF243 million. At Roche, where he worked for 15 years, he coordinated the research activities of several laboratories involved in drug discovery and development as Head of the Pharmacology Group in the Central Nervous System Diseases Department. 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 Lectus Therapeutics Ltd, UK. He is a coauthor 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 managing partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997. He started his career in Private Equity in the Caisse des Dépôts group, first with CDC Participations, 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 and NovusPharma, and U.S. companies like Cotherix and Kosan. He also is a board member of Corevalve Diatos, EOS, Fovea, Lectus Therapeutics, Movetis, SpineVision and Stentys. Mr. Papiernik has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.