Claudia Ulbrich

MD

CEO & Co-Founder

Claudia Ulbrich

MD

Claudia Ulbrich, an MD and health economist by training, is the CEO of Cardior Pharmaceuticals, a company pioneering the discovery and development of RNA-based therapeutics designed to prevent, repair and reverse the world’s number one cause of death – cardiovascular diseases. With more than 25 years of management expertise in private and public biotech companies, Claudia is an experienced integrative leader guiding international cross-functional teams based on a broad range of experience in M&A, transaction management and consulting. She brings a strong network in venture capital, academia, and industry. Claudia combines a high level of commercial competence, excellent abilities in financing and transactions to 2bn EUR with a sound knowledge of medical affairs and drug development all along the valuation chain. In 1998, Claudia founded her first biotech company LipoNova AG (IPO in 2006) and then served as a Co-Founder, executive advisor, and interim manager of several international biotech companies, such as uniQure N.V., InoCard GmbH and t-cell Europe GmbH. Having worked as a Senior Advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers she started her own consulting business in 2008. Claudia holds several Board positions in the relevant public and trade organizations.

Prof. Thomas Thum

MD, PhD

CSO/CMO & Founder

Prof. Thomas Thum

MD, PhD

Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Thomas Thum, Founder and CSO of Cardior, is a key opinion leader in cardiac diseases and the development of RNA-based therapeutics and has received numerous awards for his work. Thomas is a member of the editorial boards of the world’s most prestigious journals for cardiovascular research and an executive member of national and international research committees in the cardiovascular field. Since 2009, Thomas is Director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS) at Hanover Medical School (MHH) and visiting professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London since 2013. Most recently he was appointed as Director of the neighboring Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM) in Hanover, Germany. He has authored over 400 scientific publications in renowned and field-leading journals and has filed over 40 patents, nine of which have been successfully licensed to pharma companies and are currently in Phase 1/2 clinical development.

Axel-Sven Malkomes

CFO

Axel-Sven Malkomes

Axel-Sven Malkomes most recently held the position of CFO and CBO at Medigene AG, a listed German cell and gene therapy company, where he was responsible for finance, business development, investor relations, legal affairs, and IT. During his tenure, Axel played an integral role in strategically and financially reshaping the company, significantly advancing the cash reach as well as expanding the range of business development and licensing partnerships.

Before Medigene, Mr. Malkomes held healthcare investment banking positions at Barclays and Société Générale. Prior to this, he co-headed European healthcare investments at UK private equity firm 3i Group plc, with over $20 billion in assets under management. Earlier, he held senior operational and corporate leadership positions at Merck KGaA, including a CEO position at a Merck KGaA group company. Mr. Malkomes started his career in investment banking at a range of banking institutions, a.o. Dresdner Bank, Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette, which later became Credit Suisse, and Lehman Brothers, where he focused on a range of transactions in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets and private equity for the healthcare industry.

Mr. Malkomes holds a business administration degree from the Otto-Friedrich University in Bamberg, completed senior executive management programs at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago and University of Science & Technology in Hong Kong, as well as gained extensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and medicine through his professional activities and comprehensive further education.

Steffen Rump

PhD

VP Operations

Steffen Rump

PhD

Dr. Steffen Rump is a seasoned professional in R&D with more than 10 years of experience and a track record in translational drug development of small molecules, ATMPs and vaccines in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry. His profound knowledge and experience in R&D operations includes planning, budgeting, and conducting of regulatory non-clinical and clinical development, CMC, quality management, and regulatory interactions in the EU and US along the pharmaceutical valuation chain from the early phases up to and including clinical Phase 2. He is inventor in PCT granted patents for therapeutics in oncology and cardiology. Steffen has been supporting Cardior’s assets since 2017 and guided the lead compound from non-clinical to successful clinical Phase 1b completion and beyond. Before he joined Cardior as VP operations, Steffen was the founder of SRConsulting, a service provider for product development, management and consultancy in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry based in Hannover, Germany. Steffen joined the industry after being postdoc at Harvard Medical School and was Project Manager and Consultant at Vakzine Projekt Management GmbH.

Peter Ruile

PhD

VP Business Development & Licensing

Peter Ruile

PhD

Dr. Peter Ruile is a highly accomplished PhD-level business development professional with over 25 years of experience in various biotech and life science activities and a deal track record of about US$ 1 billion in licensing. Prior to joining Cardior he was Operations Director of the Global Platform for the Prevention of Autoimmune Diabetes (GPPAD) at HelmholtzZentrum München at the Institute of Diabetes Research. Earlier he was Deputy Head / Senior Director in charge of Business Development and Venture Capital Projects (“Innovation Capital”) at MorphoSys AG, a company focusing on human therapeutic antibodies. Before MorphoSys he worked as Chief Operating Officer at Ascenion GmbH, a leading life sciences IP asset management company. While at Ascenion he also acted as Investment Manager for different equity investments. Peter started his business career as Assistant Managing Director of GSF, one of the biggest German public life science research institutes, and soon became Managing Director of ITN GmbH (IP asset management and global marketing of patents, inventions, and technologies of GSF).

Claus Andersson

PhD

Claus Andersson

PhD

Claus Andersson is a General Partner at Sunstone Life Science Ventures, where he has been part of the team since its inception, focusing on oncology, cardiology, and nucleotide modalities. So far, Claus has been active with more than 19 companies in which he has held either chairing positions or board memberships to share his experience from the last 18 years of working with entrepreneurs, co-investors, and consultants in the life sciences. Claus has extensive experience in strategy execution and technology development from various parts of the life science ecosystem – both as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, scientist, and corporate manager. Claus holds a master’s degree in Civil Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and a PhD in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Copenhagen and the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Simone Botti

PhD

Simone Botti

PhD

Simone Botti is a Junior Partner in the Healthcare team at INKEF. Simone brings with him more than 15 years of experience across venture capital and start-up creation and leadership. Before joining INKEF Simone was CEO of Metabomed, an early-stage cancer metabolism company he co-founded while he was Head of the Israel Bioincubator Fund at M Ventures, which he joined in 2011. Simone developed his company-building experience while at M Ventures, where he established a number of early-stage companies. During that time Simone also served as a Board Member of IATI, the Israel Advanced Technology Industries association. Previously, he was Vice President, Business Development at RAD Biomed Accelerator, one of Israel’s leading life science incubators. Simone did his PhD in Structural Biology and Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he received the “Dov Elad” prize in Structural Biology.

Christoph Broja

CFA

Christoph Broja

CFA

Christoph Broja, CFA, is Managing Director at EQT Life Sciences and his focus is primarily on private companies. Prior to joining EQT Life Sciences, he was a Principal in the investment team at Boston-based Gurnet Point Capital, where he was involved in a number of investments in biopharma, medical devices, and molecular diagnostics. Prior to joining Gurnet Point Capital, Christoph worked at B-Flexion Capital in London, where he led the global financial planning process and helped set up Gurnet Point Capital in Boston. Christoph started his career as investment analyst at private equity firm Franz Haniel & Cie. in Germany. He holds a degree in Business Administration and is a CFA Charterholder.

Leon Carayannopoulos

MD, PhD

Leon Carayannopoulos

MD, PhD

Leon Carayannopoulos is VP and Head, Early Clinical Development for Immunology, Cardiovascular Disease, and Neuroscience at Bristol Myers Squibb. Over 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, he has held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck Sharp & Dohme, Celgene, and Bristol Myers Squibb – covering clinical pharmacology, translational development, and early patient programs for assets including small molecules, biologics, gene therapy, and siRNA. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin; followed by PhD in Biophysics under J Donald Capra, and MD at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Leon completed residency and fellowships in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, respectively, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis; followed by post-doctoral fellowship in Immunology with Wayne Yokoyama at Washington University. He subsequently held clinical and research faculty appointments in Internal Medicine and Pathology & Immunology at Washington University prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry in 2008.

Halina Novak

PhD

Halina Novak

PhD

Halina Novak, PhD, is a Senior Associate at Fund+. Halina brings extensive experience in technology innovation, investment and alliance management and is currently serving on multiple Biotech / MedTech boards across Europe. Formerly, Halina held several leadership positions at VIB, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology and worked at the intersection between industry, pharma and academia, leading large multi-stakeholder collaborations. Notably, she headed the Tech Watch Program and established the Technology Innovation Lab, where unique strategies were developed to identify, invest in, and evaluate breakthrough life science technologies in collaboration with start-ups and pharma. Many of these early stage investments in disruptive tools have since revolutionised the Life Sciences. Halina started her career at Unilever on a fellowship that developed novel applications of industrial enzymes after having graduated from the University of Exeter with a PhD and BSc in Biological Sciences and Biological and Medicinal Chemistry, respectively.

Ulrich Granzer

PhD

Ulrich Granzer

PhD

Ulrich Granzer, PhD, is the founder and owner of Granzer Regulatory Consulting & Services and has more than 25 years of experience in drug development and regulatory affairs. He has held senior management positions at Glaxo as Director of Regulatory Affairs and was a member of Glaxo Wellcome’s Global Regulatory Board. At BASF Pharma, Ulrich served as Vice President of Global Regulatory Centers, assuming global responsibility for Regulatory Affairs, Drug Safety, and GXP in drug development. He was responsible for the development of small molecules as well as several biological compounds in the indications of obesity, stroke, septic shock, and rheumatoid arthritis at Knoll. He was instrumental to the program for the first fully human anti-TNF antibody, now marketed as Humira. Before starting his own consultancy in 2002, Ulrich joined Bayer as Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs, whose responsibility extended over all regulatory aspects of development and submission projects. He received his graduate degree from Philipps University of Marburg and a doctorate degree from Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.

Russell Greig

PhD

Chairman

Russell Greig

PhD

Dr. Russell G. Greig graduated from the University of Manchester, UK with a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry and built a substantial career at GlaxoSmithKline for three decades, most recently as President of SR One, GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venture group. Prior to joining SR One, he served as President of GlaxoSmithKline’s Pharmaceuticals International from 2003 to 2008 and Senior Vice President of worldwide development from 2000-2003, as well as on the GlaxoSmithKline corporate executive team. Over the last decade, Dr. Greig has served as Chairman and board member for a range of innovative biopharmaceutical companies in the US and in Europe including overseeing a number of successful exits.

Markus Hosang

PhD

Vice-chairman

Markus Hosang

PhD

Markus Hosang, PhD, is a General Partner and Managing Director at BioMedPartners in Basel. He serves on the boards of Unitectra AG, Aleva Neurotherapeutics, Anergis, Hookipa Biotech, and Imevax. Earlier in his career, Markus was a venture partner at MPM Capital, where he managed their European office in Munich and served on the boards of several of their European portfolio companies including Omrix Pharmaceuticals, Kourion, IDEA and Atugen. Before that, Markus was at Roche in Basel for nearly 20 years, where he held several senior management positions. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the ETH in Zurich and pursued his postgraduate training at Stanford University Medical School in neurobiology and subsequently at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle where he published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Orly Vardeny

PharmD, MS

Permanent Guest

Orly Vardeny

PharmD, MS

Orly Vardeny, PharmD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota in the United States and an investigator at the Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Dr. Vardeny’s research interests include maximizing the benefit of pharmacologic therapy in patients with heart failure, and optimizing vaccination strategies in patients with cardiac disorders. She has led several multi-center randomized, clinical trials of influenza vaccine in patients with high risk cardiovascular disease, and serves as the US National Lead Investigator and Steering Committee member for several trials investigating novel therapies in patients with heart failure. Her clinical practice is in the outpatient management of patients with chronic heart failure. She is an Associate Editor for Circulation: Heart Failure and was a writing group member for the 2022 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Failure Society of America Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure.

Prof. Johann Bauersachs

MD

Prof. Johann Bauersachs

MD

Johann Bauersachs, MD, is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at Hannover Medical School. As an interventional cardiologist, his research focuses on acute coronary syndromes, left ventricular healing and remodeling, and acute and chronic heart failure. He is an expert on non-coding RNAs in the pathophysiology and treatment of peripartum cardiomyopathy as well as aldosterone and mineralocorticoid receptor-mediated mechanisms. Johann is a Board member of the German Cardiac Society. He is Study Chair of the DIGIT-HF study investigating the effect of digitoxin in patients with advanced heart failure and is actively involved in many other clinical trials. He received his medical degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and was trained as Clinical and Research Fellow at the Universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg/Mannheim and Wuerzburg.

Prof. Javed Butler

MD, MPH, MBA

Prof. Javed Butler

MD, MPH, MBA

Javed Butler is the President of the Baylor Scott and White Research Institute, and Senior Vice President and Maxwell A. and Gayle H. Clampitt Endowed Chair at the Baylor Scott and White Health in Dallas, TX. He is also the Distinguished Professor of Medicine at University of Mississippi in Jackson, MS. Prior to joining Baylor Scott and White Health, he served as the Patrick H. Lehan Chair in Cardiovascular Research, and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Mississippi, where he was also Professor of Physiology. Prior to joining the University of Mississippi, he was Charles A. Gargano Professor and Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Co-Director of the Heart Institute at Stony Brook University, New York. He had served as the director for heart failure research at Emory University and director of the heart and heart-lung transplant programs at Vanderbilt University prior to that. Dr. Butler is board certified in cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure and transplant medicine. His research interests focus on clinical trials in patients with heart failure. He has authored more than 1000 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Butler serves on the editorial board of several peer reviewed cardiovascular journals and has been cited numerous times in America’s Best Doctors list.

Prof. Perry Elliott

MD

Prof. Perry Elliott

MD

Perry Elliott is a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at UCL and a Senior Investigator of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). He is Director of the UCL Centre for Heart Muscle Disease and a Consultant Cardiologist in the Centre for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital London, UK. He was appointed as Director of the UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science in 2021 and is President of Cardiomyopathy UK, Europe’s foremost charity for patients with heart muscle disease. Perry has presided as chairman over many heart-related committees including the ESC Working Group on Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases, the Executive Committee for the European Outcomes Research Programme registry on cardiomyopathies, and the 2014 ESC Guideline Task Force on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. He is currently the Chairman of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Heart Academy and the ESC Council on Cardiovascular Genomics. Perry has authored more than 700 peer-reviewed papers on heart disease and served as a Deputy Editor of the Heart Journal, International Journal of Cardiology and is currently the Executive Editor for the European Heart Journal.

Gerasimos Filippatos

MD, PhD

Gerasimos Filippatos

MD, PhD

Dr. Filippatos is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiology and Director of the Heart Failure and Cardioncology Unit at the Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece. He was Dean of the School of Medicine, University of Cyprus. He studied Medicine at the University of Patras and earned his doctorate Cum Laude from the University of Athens. He completed his clinical training in Chicago, USA, and Cambridge, UK. He is past President of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC. He has served in the ESC Practice Guidelines Committee and the ACC/AHA Heart Failure Guidelines Writing Committee and as International Governor of the ACCP. He was Associate Editor of the European Heart Journal and he is Senior Consulting Editor of JACC-HF. He has published over 500 articles in peer-reviewed journals and authored more than 30 book chapters including the “Acute Heart Failure” chapter in Braunwald. He has (co)-edited 5 books including the ESC Textbook of Acute and Intensive Cardiac Care, Highly Commended in the British Medical Association Medical Book Awards, and the books “Heart Failure: The Expert’s Approach” and “Treatment Algorithms in Heart Failure”. Prof. Filippatos is in the Thomson Reuters/Clarivate list of Highly Cited Researchers since 2015. He is Honorary Member of many Cardiac Societies.

Arthur A. Levin

PhD

Arthur A. Levin

PhD

Arthur A. Levin, PhD, is Avidity Bioscience’s Executive Vice President of Research and Development with nearly 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been involved in the development of more than 20 oligonucleotide therapeutics, including both approved antisense drugs. Prior to joining Avidity, Arthur ran research and development at miRagen Therapeutics and was Chief Development Officer at Santaris Pharma where he led the efforts on the first microRNA-targeting therapeutic currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. Before joining Santaris Pharma, he consulted for leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, conducting research and development in RNA-based therapies. Prior to consulting, Arthur was Senior Vice President of Development at Isis Pharmaceuticals. He holds a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, New York and a B.Sc. in Biology from Muhlenberg College. He completed his post-doctoral work at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology in Research Triangle, North Carolina. In addition, he authored more than 70 papers and book chapters.

Prof. Scott Solomon

MD

Prof. Scott Solomon

MD

Prof. Scott D. Solomon, MD, is The Edward D. Frohlich Distinguished Chair, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He directs the Clinical Trials Outcomes Center and the Cardiac Imaging Core Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Scott has pioneered the use of cardiac imaging in cardiovascular drug and device development and use of imaging in clinical trials and has played a leading role in many international clinical trials in heart failure, hypertension, and myocardial infarction. He led the first positive Phase II trial in HFpEF, and his work led to the first FDA indication for a therapy for heart failure with ejection fraction > 40%. Scott received his A.B. from Williams College and his MD from Harvard Medical School and has authored more than 800 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and editorials, two textbooks of cardiac imaging. He serves as editor for Braunwald’s Heart Disease, the premiere textbook of cardiovascular medicine.

Barry Ticho

MD, PhD

Barry Ticho

MD, PhD

Barry Ticho, MD, PhD, is currently Chief Medical Officer at Stoke Therapeutics where he is responsible for the company’s efforts to develop first-in-class RNA based medicines that treat severe genetic diseases. As Co-Founder and Board Member of Verve Therapeutics, Barry combines entrepreneurial and corporate expertise with a sound understanding of cardiovascular diseases. With years of experience in R&D from Moderna, Pfizer and Biogen, he brings an in-depth knowledge of developing mRNA treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Barry obtained his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago and has served as a member of the clinical staff at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he conducted laboratory research on the regulation of cardiac development.

Prof. Faiez Zannad

MD, PhD

Prof. Faiez Zannad

MD, PhD

Prof. Faiez Zannad, MD, Cardiologist and heart failure specialist, PhD in Clinical Pharmacology, FESC is Emeritus Professor of Therapeutics at the University of Lorraine and former Head of the Division of Heart Failure and Hypertension and Director of the Inserm Clinical Investigation Center at “Institut Lorrain du Coeur et des Vaisseaux”, Nancy, France. Faiez has led two EU FP7 grant programs and is part of oversight committees in major clinical trials and made significant contributions to evidence-based heart failure therapy, as well as in major comorbid diseases. He served as Chairman of the French Society of Hypertension, Chairman of the ESC Working Group on pharmacology and drug therapy, and board member of the ESC Heart Failure Association. Faiez is organizing the Global CardioVascular Clinical Trialists (CVCT) Forum and Workshop, an annual international think-tank gathering dedicated to the science of clinical trials, with meetings in Paris, Washington DC, Middle East and Asia. As of June 2021, Faiez has published more than 940 peer-reviewed papers. In 2014, he was awarded the European Society of Hypertension Paul Milliez Award and in 2017 the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ESC Heart Failure Association.

Our Core

Leadership Team

Board

Scientific Advisory Board

Investors

Partners

Claudia Ulbrich

Claudia Ulbrich

Prof. Thomas Thum

Prof. Thomas Thum

Axel-Sven Malkomes

Axel-Sven Malkomes

Steffen Rump

Steffen Rump

Peter Ruile

Peter Ruile

Claus Andersson

Claus Andersson

Simone Botti

Simone Botti

Christoph Broja

Christoph Broja

Leon Carayannopoulos

Leon Carayannopoulos

Halina Novak

Halina Novak

Ulrich Granzer

Ulrich Granzer

Russell Greig

Russell Greig

Markus Hosang

Markus Hosang

Orly Vardeny

Orly Vardeny

Prof. Johann Bauersachs

Prof. Johann Bauersachs

Prof. Javed Butler

Prof. Javed Butler

Prof. Perry Elliott

Prof. Perry Elliott

Gerasimos Filippatos

Gerasimos Filippatos

Arthur A. Levin

Arthur A. Levin

Prof. Scott Solomon

Prof. Scott Solomon

Barry Ticho

Barry Ticho

Prof. Faiez Zannad

Prof. Faiez Zannad