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Dr. Firelli Alonso is Senior Director, External Supply at Pfizer, Inc.  She heads the BioTherapeutics and Vaccines Outsourcing group in Worldwide Research and Development.  Fi has more than 38 years of combined experience in research, development, and cGMP production of biological products and vaccines, and more than 18 years of experience in outsourcing, project / contract management, and technology transfer to qualified third parties.  Her areas of expertise include viral vectors and vaccine development, biotherapeutics and vaccine process development and cGMP production, project management, technology transfer, and outsourcing.

She obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, followed by postdoctoral research at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, and Rutgers University Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.  Prior to working for Wyeth / Pfizer in 1996, Fi was at The Salk Institute (Government Services Division), a vaccine contract manufacturer for the U.S. Army.

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Werngard Czechtizky obtained her PhD at ETH Zürich. After a postdoctoral stay at Harvard University, she worked on GPCR lead generation in a global Chemical Biology platform at Aventis. At Sanofi, from 2005, she moved into a parallel synthesis team working in the fields of CNS and CV diseases. In 2010, she became leader of a Medicinal Chemistry section working on Diabetes programs. In 2014, she was appointed Head of Chemistry at Sanofi R&D Germany, with therapeutic focus on Diabetes, pain and inflammatory indications. Since 2017, she is Head of Medicinal Chemistry, Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity, at AstraZeneca in Sweden.
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Ben Perry is currently Senior Discovery Manager at Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), where he is responsible for Discovery Open Innovation.

At DNDi he has led the NTD Drug Discovery Booster since inception, and has been involved with the conception and implementation of several other initiatives focused on leishmaniasis and Chagas disease drug discovery at DNDi, including the Open Synthesis Network and the MycetOS projects.

Prior to joining DNDi, Ben spent 15 years in various medicinal chemistry roles at Celltech (UK), UCB (UK; Belgium), Addex Therapeutics (Switzerland) and Genkyotex (Switzerland). He has worked extensively in early-stage drug discovery across a variety of disease indications including oncology, autoimmune disorders, neurodegeneration and psychiatry.

His areas of research interest include the use of chemoinformatic and computational tools within medicinal chemistry, alternative research mechanisms, and the use of new technologies and research collaborations to further the drug discovery process. Ben holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Imperial College London and a MBA from IE Business School, Madrid.
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Dr. Antoine Thomas is a CMC expert with +17 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry spanning from early to late phase development of small molecules, biologicals and gene therapy products. Antoine is currently Head of External Manufacturing of ExeVir Bio a spin out of the VIB (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Belgium) developing single domain antibodies against viral infections. He formally was Sr. CMC Manager at Vivet Therapeutics a French start-up company dedicated to developing gene therapy treatments for orphan diseases. He joined Vivet from Ablynx (now Ablynx a Sanofi company) where he led the Caplacizumab (Cablivi®) CMC development program till BLA/MAA submission. Before that position he had been working at UCB-Pharma as Group Leader working on the manufacturing process development and alternative synthetic routes of Brivaracetam (Briviact®). Antoine holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Université Henri Poincaré Nancy 1 (FR).
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Richard A. Lewis is head of Computer-aided Drug Design at Novartis in Basel with interests in cheminformatics, ML, protein and structure-based drug design. He earned his B.A. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University, under the supervision of Dr Philip Dean. He performed postdoctoral studies as a Fulbright scholar in the lab of Prof Tack Kuntz at UCSF and as a Royal Commission Fellow in the lab of Prof. Mike Sternberg before joining the team of Jon Mason at RPR in 1991. In 1998 he joined Eli Lilly to lead the European modelling group, and then in 2004 moved to his current role. He has authored over 60 papers and patents, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
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Dr. Rümenapp is based in Wuppertal, Germany and working within the Product Supply Biotech organization of Bayer AG, where he is responsible for the transfer of Bayer’s pipeline candidates (antibodies and antibody-drug-conjugates) to external manufacturing partners and regulatory submission and launch preparations.

Prior to working in Development, Dr. Rümenapp was Head of Biotech Projects in Product Supply Biotech at Bayer, where he was responsible for contract manufacturing partnerships in the field of biotechnological drug substances and drug products and interdisciplinary project management with the goal to ensure market supply.

Before it was acquired by Bayer, Dr. Rümenapp hold a similar position at Schering AG, and before that, he worked in the Production & Logistics department of Schering, where he was responsible for production aspects of in- and out-licensing deals, due diligences, and product acquisitions of small molecule products and biologics.

Dr. Rümenapp studied chemistry and holds a Ph.D. in biosciences. He worked several years in academic research in the field of signal transduction and as an assistant teacher in the field of general pharmacology.

Today, Dr. Rümenapp area of expertise is the set-up and management of external relationships for the development and supply of bio-pharmaceutical products. He has more than 20 years of experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry.

To correspond with Dr. Rümenapp, please contact him at [email protected].
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His role is to work with clients to take their APIs forward and develop the Solid State offering at Sterling.

He has a degree in Chemistry and a PhD is in Polymerisation Chemistry followed by two post-doctoral posts at Sussex University. He has over two decades of experience in drug development, research and solid state. Also, he has a vast amount of experience working in the CRO environment of synthesis, from grams to 50+Kg.
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Dr. Christian Lutz is working at Heidelberg Pharma Research as a director of project management CMC. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the biotechnology industry. His roles included synthetic organic chemistry, analytics, and bio-analytics before. Christian currently oversees the ADC development and production at Heidelberg Pharma Research. He obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Marburg, Germany.
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Thomas Schlatterer is located in Switzerland near to the facility in Hunzenschwil (Neuland). Thomas received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry (heterocyclic chemistry) at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Thomas joined CARBOGEN AMCIS in 2001 at the Aarau site as a project chemist leading several production projects. In 2003 he moved to the Hunzenschwil site to work in his new position as Manager of Project Coordination and 2 years later joined the sales team responsible for Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Thomas has expertise in contract chemical process, R&D, and analytical chemistry in the field of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) including highly potent molecules. Thomas in his current position is heading the sales team in Europe & Asia Pacific.
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She has more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development gained from her time in the biotechnology and contract research industries including 13 years at MMV. Prior to joining MMV, she held positions in business development with Paragon Biomedical, Synarc Inc., and PPD in Cambridge, UK and before that she worked as a research and senior scientist at Cambridge Antibody Technology. She has a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of London and a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow and in 2017 gained a master’s degree in biomedical ethics and healthcare with the University of Leeds.
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As Head of Structural Biology and Analytics, Josef is responsible for leading a team of experts in chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. He is responsible for purification of small molecule up to the structural elucidation or proteins as well as the physico chemical characterization of small molecules.

Josef has performed his Diploma studies in Chemistry and received his doctoral grad in chemistry from the University of Duisburg, Germany.

In 1991, Josef started his career in pharma industry at Solvay Pharmaceutical in Hannover, as a Medicinal Chemists doing synthesis as well as modeling. During the time at Solvay Pharmaceutical Josef was responsible for lab automation, biotransformation and in the end leader of an international interdisciplinary project team for lung and heart diseases. In 2011 he moved to Orion Pharma as Senior Advisor in the medicinal chemistry department. He has been focusing on CNS diseases and major interest has been to understand protein ligand interactions. In 2020 he was appointed as Head of Structural Biology and Analytics in the current organization of Global Medicine Design.
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Thierry Schlama has 24 years experience in chemical processes and innovative technologies development. He joined Novartis in 2006 where he held different roles within TRD-CHAD. Recipient of the Novartis Global Innovation award (VIVA) in 2017, Thierry has been instrumental in building strategic partnerships, creating innovation platforms, and leading biocatalysis implementation within CHAD organization from early to full scale manufacturing. Author of several publications, patent and book chapters, Thierry holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg and he’s passionate of changing the way we do organic chemistry using the power of enzymes. He’s the Director of the Biocatalysis in Chemical Development and Global Platform Leader of the Biocatalysis technology.
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Profile:
Executive leader with more than 25 years of international experience in Drug Substance and Finished Products Manufacturing Operations for Clinical and Commercial products. Extensive experience in facility design and start-up from green filed through successful scale-up, technology transfer, process performance qualification, commercialization and life cycle management of biotherapeutics. CMO Selection and Management. Strong management in multicultural setting in US, Europe and Asia.

Work experience with major Biotech companies:
Genentech in the USA, Amgen in the USA, Celltrion in S. Korea, Merck KGaA in Switzerland and know Incyte in Switzerland.

Education:
Bachelor degree in Molecular Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, CA, USA
MBA: SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich (Thesis: Manufacturing plant design and construction based on single use technology)

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In 2016 Andrea Fetz joined Solvias to introduce and roll-out professional project management within the company. Solvias is a world leader in contract analytical research, development and manufacturing, serving the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, cell & gene therapy and cosmetic industries.

Andrea has over 20 years of experience in project management. In addition, she has a solid knowledge of the regulatory requirements in pharmaceutical product development through her direct interaction with regulatory bodies in both the US and Europe and she understands the complex product development processes required in the pharmaceutical industry.
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Claire Wombwell is an experienced research scientist with a demonstrated history of working in the pharmaceutical industry. Since joining Pharmorphix in August 2017 (now Veranova), Claire has led multiple projects applying her expertise in solid state science to numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients. Her work at Veranova covers polymorph screening, salt selection, crystallisation development, co-crystal screening and amorphous dispersion generation. Before joining Veranova, Claire worked with supercritical fluid technologies to improve the performance of medicines. Claire gained her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Cambridge (UK).
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Christian Arquint joined T3 Pharmaceuticals AG in early 2018. As head of clinical manufacturing and member of the CMC team he coordinates the development and manufacture of their innovative bacterial product, alongside the design and development of various analytical methods. Christian started his scientific career by studying the type of bacteria that T3 Pharmaceuticals AG’s therapy is based on during his master studies at University of Basel. He then moved on to study basic mechanisms of cell division in human cells during his PhD. After his academic studies, Christian reunited with a group of former colleagues that have meanwhile decided to found their own company, T3 Pharmaceuticals AG, with the goal to transform their academic knowledge into an effective anti-cancer treatment.
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Stacey has held commercial roles in several pharmaceutical companies over the last 10 years.

She joined Intertek in 2019 and has been responsible for business development and stewardship of new and existing partnerships.

Stacey routinely works with global companies to design tailored outsourcing contracts to meet their technical and commercial needs.
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Constantin Hozsa is a project manager for formulation and process development at Siegfried's Hamelin (Germany) based R&D-department. His responsibilities include the introduction of new Container Closure Integrity Test (CCIT) systems and the development of new CCIT methods.
Prior to joining Siegfried, Constantin has worked for more than ten years in the development of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems for small molecules and biologicals.

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Simone Steiner leads the technology development and manufacturing teams at Tigen Pharma. Prior to Tigen, she successfully built and headed the Novartis Production Unit / Cell Therapy Facility in Stein, Switzerland, where the pioneering leukemia cell therapy Kymriah was initiated. She also held Cell & Gene leadership roles as a supplier relationship manager and a product Stewart. She started her industrial career at QSV Biologics as a CDMO downstream processing scientist.
Simone holds a diploma in biochemistry and a PhD from the ETH Zurich. She was also a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta, Canada.

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As Head of Structural Biology and Analytics, Josef is responsible for leading a team of experts in chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. He is responsible for purification of small molecule up to the structural elucidation or proteins as well as the physico chemical characterization of small molecules.

Josef has performed his Diploma studies in Chemistry and received his doctoral grad in chemistry from the University of Duisburg, Germany.

In 1991, Josef started his career in pharma industry at Solvay Pharmaceutical in Hannover, as a Medicinal Chemists doing synthesis as well as modeling. During the time at Solvay Pharmaceutical Josef was responsible for lab automation, biotransformation and in the end leader of an international interdisciplinary project team for lung and heart diseases. In 2011 he moved to Orion Pharma as Senior Advisor in the medicinal chemistry department. He has been focusing on CNS diseases and major interest has been to understand protein ligand interactions. In 2020 he was appointed as Head of Structural Biology and Analytics in the current organization of Global Medicine Design.
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Marianne Späne (1962) joined the Siegfried Group in 2004 and was responsible for the Classical Generics Business Unit between 2004 and 2008. She headed the Siegfried Generics Division form 2008 and 2010 and was appointed as Global Head of Business Development and Sales, Marketing, Business Intelligence and Regulatory Affairs as well as Member of the Executive Committee in March 2010. Today she is acting as CBO (Chief Business Officer) and proud to have participated and contributed nearly 20 years to the growth story of Siegfried turning from a 300 Mio CHF Turnover to a > 1bn CDMO, with a variety of services from development to manufacturing of drug products and drug substances with 11 sites worldwide.

Prior to joining Siegfried, she worked in logistics, business development and as site manager for Boucheron (today Gucci), a cosmetics company. Later she switched to the pharmaceutical industry and joined the pharma division of Schweizerhall as head of the sales marketing department. Subsequently she joined Aceto, a US based company, where she developed European expansion strategies.

Marianne Späne holds Master degrees in finance, business administration and marketing
Being in leading positions of the industry for more than 25 years, she has been establishing a very good network in the eastern and western hemisphere (China, Europe and US) and displays a profound understanding and extensive knowledge of the chemical and pharmaceutical market along the whole value chain. In her position she is responsible for the global turnover and profitability, growth of the global portfolio by innovative business models and technology expansion, identification and acquisition of new targets for the chemical and pharmaceutical segments for all the sites, establishment of global business cases and Lifecycle management strategies for the portfolio, Establishment of Customer Relationship Management systems, market strategies, Business intelligence systems, and global regulatory affairs.



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Dr. Jörg is Chief Customer Delivery Officer (COO) at ten23 health. She was previously Head of Pharmaceutical Development, Drug Product Services (DPS) at Lonza AG (2016-2021), acting also ad interim as Manufacturing Site Head in Stein and Business Unit Head DPS.

Before that she worked in various leadership roles such as Head Early Phase Pharmaceutical development at Novartis AG (2006-2016). She has over 15 years of experience in formulation development, process development, transfer and validation, sterile manufacturing and regulatory submissions for early-, late-stage and life-cycle parenteral dosage forms.

She studied Pharmacy at the University of Mainz, Germany, and holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical technology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Munich, Germany, that was performed in a research collaboration with Merck KGA, developing high-concentration antibody formulations.
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