Leadership Team

Erich Platzer, MD, PhD, 

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2007. He is a business angel and board member of Swiss angel organization StartAngels-Network, focusing on Life Sciences and technology investments. In addition, he serves as a board member and healthcare partner at Swiss venture capital firm MTIP in Basel, which focuses on medtech and e-health investments. Prior to this, he was an investment advisor and industry partner at HBM Partners AG, a venture capital company, which he co-founded in 2001. Erich Platzer has been chairman or board member of various biotech companies, public or private, in the US and Europe and he currently serves on the boards of the privately held life sciences companies, AOT and Panavance as well as the public biotech company Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ, TSE). Until 1999, Erich Platzer worked in various functions in product development and marketing at F. Hoffmann — La Roche, Basel, most recently as Business Director Oncology (worldwide). Prior to that, he worked in academic medicine and research and had a key role in the team at MSKCC that purified natural human G-CSF, which lead to the development of Neupogen and Neulasta. Erich Platzer holds an MD from the Medical Faculty of the University of Erlangen, Germany, where he also earned his MD PhD (Habilitation).

Dinnies Johannes von der Osten, PhD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2007. He is CEO and Partner at GoodVent Beteiligungsmanagement GmbH & Co. KG since 2007. He is managing director of Elector GmbH. He is member of the board of directors at Market Logic Software AG as well as at Acktar Ltd, Israel. He has served as member of the board of directors at numerous private and public companies in the tech sector. Dinnies von der Osten spent over 20 years in the venture and private capital sector in various positions. Until 2017 he served as CEO of Cedrus Private Equity. Between 1998 and 2007 he was sole managing director of IBG Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt mbH. Before that he worked as managing director of VWM Waste und Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (1994 – 1997) after having been responsible for business development of TechnoCommerz GmbH, a Treuhandanstalt owned company (1993 – 1994). Dinnies von der Osten holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, a diploma in Economics from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany and a Bachelor of Business and Engineering from the TU Karlsruhe, Germany.

Charlotte Lohmann

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2015. She is a member of the Executive Committee at MorphoSys AG in Planegg, Germany, since July 2020 and serves as General Counsel at MorphoSys since 2012, and, since 2018, in her role as Senior Vice President. Prior to this, she spent eleven years at Wilex AG in Munich, most recently as Senior Vice President Legal Affairs & Human Resources. Prior to her position at Wilex, she practiced law at the law firm KPMG Treuhand & Goerdeler GmbH in Munich. She started her career in the tax and law department of the auditing company KPMG Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft AG. Ms. Lohmann received her degree in law from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and is a licensed attorney.

Jörg Neermann, PhD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2011. He advises various biotech companies and a venture fund. He is the former CEO of the privately held German biotech company Curexsys GmbH, active in exosome and anti-aging technologies, which he built from start-up to clinical readiness. Between 2007 and 2020 he was Partner at LSP, a leading European Venture Capital group, and from September 2009 onwards Managing Partner at LSP Services Deutschland GmbH, the German subsidiary of LSP. Prior to that he was Managing Partner at DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, a venture subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, where he joined in 1998. Jörg Neermann started his venture capital career as an associate with Atlas Venture in 1996. Since April 2019, he has served as a non-executive member of the board of directors of Immunic Inc. (NASD: IMUX), New York, USA, and since April 2016, as chairman of the board of Immunic AG Munich, Germany (now a 100% subsidiary of Immunic Inc.).  Since November 2021 he also serves as a non-executive member on the board of privately held Idea AG, Munich. In the past, he served on the boards of various private and public biotech companies, where he accompanied numerous private financings, IPOs and M&As. In the last five years he served as a non-executive member on the boards of: Imcyse S.A. (Liège, Belgium, July 2019 – January 2021); ViCentra B.V. (Utrecht, Netherlands, January 2016 to January 2021); Eyesense AG (Basel, Switzerland, July 2012 – January 2021); Ventaleon GmbH (Gemünden, Germany, July 2012 – December 2020); and Kuros AG (Zurich, Switzerland, August 2015 – May 2017). Jörg Neermann studied Biotechnology at TU Braunschweig and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) and holds a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biotechnology from TU Braunschweig, Germany. He also studied economics at TU Braunschweig and Harvard Business School (Cambridge, MA, USA).

Claudia Riedl, PhD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2022. As Senior Advisor at MC Services AG, she supports various clients in the biotechnology industry in all aspects of investor relations and corporate communications. During her more than 15-year tenure as Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at the German biotech MorphoSys until 2016, she supported the company’s transformation and growth from a technology-focused antibody discovery and development enterprise into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. Subsequently, in a senior advisor capacity, she was instrumental in the company’s successful secondary listing on Nasdaq in 2018. Following an apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank AG, Dr. Riedl studied biology and earned a PhD at Technical University, Munich, Germany.

Samir Shah, MD,

has served as a non-executive director on our board of directors since 2022. In addition to his current role as Head of Investor Relations for Novartis, a company he has been with since 2004, he is a member of several executive groups and committees within the organization, including Finance Leadership Team, Innovation Management Board and Trust & Reputation Committee. Prior to Novartis, Samir Shah spent more than 12 years at Merck Serono, where he led several global franchises, including neurology. He graduated as a physician from University of Sheffield, England and joined the pharmaceutical industry after completing his postgraduate medical training (MRCP). Dr. Shah also holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, England.