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.
Vincent Lawton, Vice Chairman
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.
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.
Hoyoung Huh, M.D., Ph.D.
A global leader in the biotechnology and healthcare arenas, Dr. Hoyoung Huh has been involved in the formation and growth of multiple innovative organizations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He is currently chairman of the board of directors of both BiPar Sciences Inc. and Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN). He also serves on the board of directors of BayBio, Jennerex Inc. and SciDose LLC. Dr. Huh was BiPar's President and CEO, when he led the merger of BiPar with the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis (EURONEXT:SAN and NYSE:SNY) in 2009. He was previously a member of the board of directors, chief operating officer, and head of the PEGylation business unit at Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR). A former partner at McKinsey & Company, Dr. Huh holds an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, a Ph.D. in Genetics/Cell Biology from Cornell University/Sloan-Kettering Institute, and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Dartmouth College.
Oleg Nodelman
Oleg Nodelman is a portfolio manager at the Biotechnology Value Fund, a biotech focused investment fund founded in San Francisco in 1993. Mr. Nodelman was a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting where he worked closely with senior management on financial and strategic matters. Mr. Nodelman holds a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs and a minor in Science in Technology from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. BVF is a 30% shareholder of Addex.
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.