Andrea Pfeifer, PhD

In 2003 Prof. Dr. Andrea Pfeifer co-founded AC Immune where she holds since foundation the position of CEO. She serves as chairwoman of the Biotechmedinvest AG Investment Fund, Basel and on the Superv...

In 2003 Prof. Dr. Andrea Pfeifer co-founded AC Immune where she holds since foundation the position of CEO. She serves as chairwoman of the Biotechmedinvest AG Investment Fund, Basel and on the Supervisory Board Symrise AG, Holzminden. Prof. Pfeifer is a member of the WEF Global Agenda Council Brain and Cognitive Sciences and was recognized in 2009 as Technology Pioneer by the WEF and Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst&Young. Additional recognitions include the election as one of the top 20 startup CEOs and one of the 300 most influential personalities in Switzerland.
As the former head of Nestlé's Global Research in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Prof. Pfeifer managed a group of more than 600 people, she brings more than 25 years of senior management experience including broad R&D, business and international exposure. While at Nestlé, she led the development of the first Functional Food, LC1, and one of the first Cosmoceutical products in a joint venture with L’Oreal, Innéov Fermeté. She also co-founded the Nestlé Venture Capital Fund, a € 100Mio. Life Sciences corporate venture fund.
Prof. Pfeifer is an international expert in Biotech and a Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Prof. Pfeifer completed her studies and doctoral work in Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and continued with post-doctoral work in Molecular Carcinogenesis at the National Institutes of Health, Human Carcinogenesis Branch, in Bethesda, USA. Being a registered Toxicologist and Pharmacist, she received her habilitation from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland in 2000. She has published more than 200 papers and abstracts in leading scientific journals.

In 2003 Prof. Dr. Andrea Pfeifer co-founded AC Immune where she holds since foundation the position of CEO. She serves as chairwoman of the Biotechmedinvest AG Investment Fund, Basel and on the Superv...

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Jean-Fabien Monin

Jean-Fabien Monin has several years of international management experience in Finance and General Administration at bioMérieux. As CFO of bioMérieux Central Europe based in Vienna, Austria, he was res...

Jean-Fabien Monin has several years of international management experience in Finance and General Administration at bioMérieux. As CFO of bioMérieux Central Europe based in Vienna, Austria, he was responsible for the development, the consolidation and the optimization of Finance and Administration of the fast growing local market. Prior to this assignment he was responsible for the integration of the subsidiaries of numerous countries in Europe and Brazil, into the standards of Finance, Quality Assurance and Information System of the Group. He also worked 3 years in the Netherlands in charge of the financial aspects of a Molecular Biology R&D program. Jean-Fabien Monin holds a Masters in Finance and International Business from the University Paris-Dauphine, France.

Jean-Fabien Monin has several years of international management experience in Finance and General Administration at bioMérieux. As CFO of bioMérieux Central Europe based in Vienna, Austria, he was res...

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Andreas Muhs, PhD

Dr. Muhs brings several years of experience of pre-clinical development in biotechnology companies. Prior to AC Immune he was responsible at ViaCell Inc., Cambridge, MA, for the development of the car...

Dr. Muhs brings several years of experience of pre-clinical development in biotechnology companies. Prior to AC Immune he was responsible at ViaCell Inc., Cambridge, MA, for the development of the cardiac stem cell-based program to treat myocardial infarct patients, including worldwide pre-clinical program collaborations and technology transfers. Prior to ViaCell Inc. he held the position of Director of Pharmacology & Histology at Cardion AG where he developed research projects to clinical approaches in the fields of heart & circulation, angiogenesis, immunology, diabetes and toxicology with gene-, protein- and stem cell-based therapies. Dr. Muhs holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the University Düsseldorf, Germany, where he worked on regulation of endothelial barrier functions.

Dr. Muhs brings several years of experience of pre-clinical development in biotechnology companies. Prior to AC Immune he was responsible at ViaCell Inc., Cambridge, MA, for the development of the car...

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Wolfgang Barth, PhD

Dr. Wolfgang Barth brings in a wide experience of drug development in both pharma and biotech companies. He joined AC Immune from TRIN-Pharma, where he advanced an anticancer drug through the preclini...

Dr. Wolfgang Barth brings in a wide experience of drug development in both pharma and biotech companies. He joined AC Immune from TRIN-Pharma, where he advanced an anticancer drug through the preclinical into the clinical phase. He spent several years in Biotech Industry after gaining extensive experience at Bayer Healthcare where he was the responsible project leader of numerous preclinical and clinical development projects. The most prominent one was the fast development of the PDE5 inhibitor Levitra, which he led from the start of preclinical development until market launch. Wolfgang Barth holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Marburg / Germany and received a NATO stipend for a postdoctoral staff position at the Ohio State University.

Dr. Wolfgang Barth brings in a wide experience of drug development in both pharma and biotech companies. He joined AC Immune from TRIN-Pharma, where he advanced an anticancer drug through the preclini...

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Piergiorgio Donati

Piergiorgio Donati has several years of experience in CMC and Project Management positions. Before joining AC Immune, he was R&D Project Manager for Abiogen Pharma SpA, Pisa. In this position he was r...

Piergiorgio Donati has several years of experience in CMC and Project Management positions. Before joining AC Immune, he was R&D Project Manager for Abiogen Pharma SpA, Pisa. In this position he was responsible for the introduction of Project Management aiming to ensure the success of the R&D projects in line with Company’s Strategic Plans and to support the CSO managing all R&D projects in early development in the CNS area. Previously, Piergiorgio held positions of increasing responsibility in the CMC field with Serono in Italy and Switzerland. He contributed to the life cycle development, scale-up, technology transfer, validation and launch of most of the Serono’s rec-proteins in the fertility area.

Piergiorgio Donati has several years of experience in CMC and Project Management positions. Before joining AC Immune, he was R&D Project Manager for Abiogen Pharma SpA, Pisa. In this position he was r...

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Wolfgang Fröstl

Dr. Wolfgang Fröstl is a former Group Leader of Neuroscience Chemistry at Novartis and combines many years of medicinal chemistry experience in the pharmaceutical industry with specialization in drugs...

Dr. Wolfgang Fröstl is a former Group Leader of Neuroscience Chemistry at Novartis and combines many years of medicinal chemistry experience in the pharmaceutical industry with specialization in drugs for the Central Nervous System (CNS). He synthesized very potent GABAB receptor agonists and antagonists of which one Phase II compound was derived for the application of cognition enhancer. His team cloned the GABAB receptor which was published in the Journal Nature in 1997. Besides his profound knowledge of synthetic organic chemistry he has long-term expertise in CNS biology and toxicology as well as preclinical and clinical drug development. Dr. Fröstl completed his studies and Ph.D. at the University of Vienna, Austria. He has published more than 100 papers in leading scientific journals and holds 30 patents.

Dr. Wolfgang Fröstl is a former Group Leader of Neuroscience Chemistry at Novartis and combines many years of medicinal chemistry experience in the pharmaceutical industry with specialization in drugs...

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David T. Hickman, PhD

Dr. David T. Hickman brings several years R&D experience within the fields of analytical and bio-organic chemistry. Before joining AC Immune as one of the first employees in 2003, he was awarded a Mar...

Dr. David T. Hickman brings several years R&D experience within the fields of analytical and bio-organic chemistry. Before joining AC Immune as one of the first employees in 2003, he was awarded a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship which he carried out at the Institute de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS) / University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg. Prior to this he obtained post-doctoral training also in Strasbourg under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Prof. J.-M. Lehn. Dr. Hickman holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of London where he developed analytical methods to investigate the binding properties of a cationic RNA mimetic. He has published several scientific publications.

Dr. David T. Hickman brings several years R&D experience within the fields of analytical and bio-organic chemistry. Before joining AC Immune as one of the first employees in 2003, he was awarded a Mar...

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Heiko Kroth, PhD

Dr. Heiko Kroth joined AC Immune from Alantos Pharmaceuticals, where as a Principle Scientist he was leading the chemistry team responsible for the discovery of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor for t...

Dr. Heiko Kroth joined AC Immune from Alantos Pharmaceuticals, where as a Principle Scientist he was leading the chemistry team responsible for the discovery of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor for the treatment of Diabetes mellitus type 2, currently in Phase II. During his career, he acquired several years of experience in the area of drug discovery of small molecule inhibitors for different indications like Diabetes, Osteoarthritis and Influenza. Dr. Heiko Kroth holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Mainz, Germany. He continued his work in cancer research as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in Bethesda, USA.

Dr. Heiko Kroth joined AC Immune from Alantos Pharmaceuticals, where as a Principle Scientist he was leading the chemistry team responsible for the discovery of Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor for t...

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Gautam Maitra

Gautam Maitra is a trained chemist and regulatory affairs professional with extensive experience at Roche and Novartis. Before joining AC Immune, he was Director of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Contro...

Gautam Maitra is a trained chemist and regulatory affairs professional with extensive experience at Roche and Novartis. Before joining AC Immune, he was Director of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls at OPi, Lyon, France. He served as the European Director of the Parenteral Drug Association with over 10,000 members worldwide from the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, health authorities and academia. During that period, he developed strong relationships with global health authorities and organizations. He is an invited observer to the annual USP European Stakeholder Forums and has been a member of the Bio-Manufacturing Working Group of the EFPIA/EBE in Brussels. In addition, he is co-chairing the PDA Task Force for Analytical Method Validation of Biotechnology Products.

Gautam Maitra is a trained chemist and regulatory affairs professional with extensive experience at Roche and Novartis. Before joining AC Immune, he was Director of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Contro...

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Paolo Paganetti, PhD

Dr. Paolo Paganetti is an experienced neurobiologist holding a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Post-Doctoral training at the University of Zurich and the Howard Hughes ...

Dr. Paolo Paganetti is an experienced neurobiologist holding a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Post-Doctoral training at the University of Zurich and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University. He joined AC Immune from the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Novartis Pharma AG in Basel, where he held positions with increasing responsibilities as drug discovery scientist in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. Dr. Paganetti managed large internal and external drug discovery teams. He was appointed Novartis Leading Scientist in 2003 and Director in 2010. He has published over 50 scientific peer-reviewed publications and regularly lectured at the University of Basel.

Dr. Paolo Paganetti is an experienced neurobiologist holding a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Post-Doctoral training at the University of Zurich and the Howard Hughes ...

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Maria Pihlgren, PhD

Dr. Maria Pihlgren has several years of experience in immunology, with specialization in immunological memory and vaccinology. Before AC Immune, she held a senior research position in Neonatal Vaccino...

Dr. Maria Pihlgren has several years of experience in immunology, with specialization in immunological memory and vaccinology. Before AC Immune, she held a senior research position in Neonatal Vaccinology at the WHO Collaborating Center for Neonatal Vaccinology and Immunology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Dr. Pihlgren holds a Ph.D. in Immunology of Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France, where she worked on T-cell memory. She made her post-doctoral work in Vaccinology at Geneva University in Switzerland and has published numerous publications in scientific journals such as Journal of Immunology and Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Dr. Maria Pihlgren has several years of experience in immunology, with specialization in immunological memory and vaccinology. Before AC Immune, she held a senior research position in Neonatal Vaccino...

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