Dr. Flemming Ørnskov is Head of General Medicine, Bayer Healthcare and a member of the Bayer Schering Pharma Executive Committee. Prior to joining Bayer Schering Pharma, Dr. Ørnskov served as Global President, Pharmaceuticals and OTC at Bausch & Lomb, Inc., from 2008 to 2010. He was responsible for the company's prescription ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and generics, as well as its general eye health and vitamins businesses. Previously, Dr. Ørnskov consulted with Warburg Pincus, a leading private equity firm focused on healthcare, on its acquisition of Bausch & Lomb, Inc. He also served as Chairman of the Board, and subsequently as President and CEO, of Life-Cycle Pharma A/S. Dr. Ørnskov served as President and CEO of Ikaria, Inc., a Seattle-based biotech company which was subsequently merged in an approx. $700m, private equity lead deal with INO Therapeutics Inc., and he later served on the board of Ikaria-INO Therapeutics. Dr. Ørnskov moved to this position after having served as President of the Global Ophthalmics Business Unit at Novartis AG, and prior to this, Vice President and Head of the Novartis US cardiovascular franchise. Dr. Ørnskov worked for Merck & Co. Inc. in both its Global and US headquarters, in roles of increasing responsibility, lastly as Urology Franchise Business Group Leader. Prior to that he was a healthcare equity analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston Ltd. Dr. Ørnskov received his MD from the University of Copenhagen, MBA from INSEAD, and Master of Public Health from Harvard University. Dr. Ørnskov is also the Chairman of the Board of Evotec AG. Dr. Ørnskov was first elected to the Board of Santaris Pharma A/S in 2007.
the board
Chairman of the Board
Vice Chairman of the Board
Dr. Wenninger has worked for more than 30 years in the international healthcare business. He has been a member of the Board of Management at Bayer AG, Germany, and Chairman of the Board of Bayer Corporation, USA. Dr. Wenninger is Chairman of the Board of Noxxon Pharma AG, Berlin and a member of the Board of Directors of Evotec AG, Hamburg, Paion AG, Aachen, Recordati Industria Chimica e Farmaceutica S.p.A., Milan and a member of the Novo Advisory Group, Denmark and a member of the Board of the Robert-Koch-Foundation, Germany. Dr. Wenninger holds a PhD and an MBA from the University at Munich, Germany. Dr. Wenninger was first elected to the Board of Directors of Santaris Pharma A/S in 2006.
Director
Claus Bræstrup is a member of the Board of the University of Copenhagen, the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation, the Council and Executive Committee of the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI), Bavarian Nordic A/S, Probiodrug AG and Evolva Holding SA.
Dr. Bræstrup started as a research scientist at St. Hans Mental Hospital's Department of Biochemistry/Neurochemistry; later he was a consultant at A/S Ferrosan's Biochemical Department, and a research associate at Sct. Hans Mental Hospital.
Dr. Bræstrup has been Vice President of Pharmaceutical Research, President of the CNS Division, and President of the Diabetes Care Division, respectively, at Novo Nordisk A/S and Head of Preclinical Drug Research with Schering AG in Berlin, before joining Lundbeck as Executive Vice President, Research and Development.
From 2003 - 2008 he was President and CEO of H. Lundbeck A/S. Claus Braestrup holds a Master' s degree in Chemical Engineering and is Master of Science in Biochemistry. He is Doctor of Medical Science and former Adjunct Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen.
Director
Søren Carlsen has been employed with the Novo Group since 1979. He was appointed Vice President of Biotechnology in 1986, and in 1991-92 he established Novo Nordisk Biotech, Inc, in California, USA. From 1994-2000 Søren Carlsen worked at Novo Nordisk Enzyme Business (today Novozymes) as Corporate Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. In 2000 he moved to his present position at Novo A/S as Managing Partner to establish Novo’s Life Science Investment activities. In 2007 Søren Carlsen started Novo Seeds for early stage investments. Søren Carlsen holds a MSc in chemical engineering from The Technical University of Denmark and a MSc in brewing technology from the Scandinavian School of brewing. Søren Carlsen is a member of the Board of Directors of PTC Therapeutics, Santaris Pharma, 7TM Pharma A/S and DTU Symbion Innovation. Søren Carlsen was a co-founder of “Dansk Biotek” – the association of Danish biotech Industries – in 1986 and has been chairman since 1994. He was awarded The Danish Chemistry price in 1988.
Director
Edwin de Graaf is managing director and general partner of Gilde Healthcare Partners and holds a masters degree in business and fiscal economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He currently serves on the board of Pieris AG and served on the boards of GlycArt AG (trade sale to Roche) and AMT (Euronext: AMT).
Director
Dr. Martien Van Osch has more than 10 years of experience within the private equity sector and has spent more than eight years in the Life Sciences Venture Capital industry.
Dr. van Osch is a managing partner at Forbion Capital Partners, prior to which he was a partner at ABN AMRO Capital Life Sciences team. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, he has the responsibility for the Company's finance and operations.
Dr. van Osch represents Forbion on the boards of a number of med tech and bio pharma companies.
Dr. van Osch has a background in finance and economics. He received his Masters degree in Econometrics at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.
Director
Dr. Hans Küpper is a partner at Global Life Science Ventures since 1999. Dr Küpper has 29 years of experience in biotechnology with 19 years in the life science industry, where he has been involved in activities from R&D and R&D-management to technology assessment and acquisitions. In 1980, Dr. Küpper joined Biogen where he held various R&D and management positions, including Assistant Research Director. In 1985, he joined Behringwerke AG to build and head the Molecular Biology Department and later became head of R&D at the Immunology/Oncology business unit. Since 1991, Dr Küpper has been increasingly involved in deal negotiations, acquisitions, joint ventures, and lead the spin-off of the vaccine unit and the diagnostics business of Behringwerke AG. Dr Küpper earned a PhD from the University of Heidelberg and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT in Boston with Nobel Laureate Prof. Khorana. Dr. Küpper is a member on several Boards of Directors including Chairman of the Board of Pieris, board member of Action Pharma, IMI Intelligent Medical Implants, and an observer of the board of 7TM. Dr. Küpper was first elected to the Board of Santaris Pharma A/S in 2010.
Director
Dr. Claus Andersson is an investment director in Life Sciences Ventures at Sunstone Capital. He has over 14 years of industrial experience and more than 8 years of dedicated venture capital experience in the biotechnology industry. Dr. Andersson holds a PhD in multivariate statistics, which he obtained at the University of Copenhagen and the Humboldt University, Berlin. He has published 17 peer reviewed scientific publications in biology and mathematics, and has served as editorial board member in 4 scientific journals. While obtaining his PhD, Dr. Andersson served as manager in Radiometer Medical A/S which he left in 2001 to start a company and has subsequently founded and co-founded three additional companies and a smaller ICT venture fund. Dr. Andersson has served on numerous boards and is a member of the board in Acarix A/S, Jurag Separation A/S, PreciSense A/S (acquired by Medtronic Inc.), and Norventum Fund I A/S. Dr. Andersson was appointed as a board member of Santaris Pharma A/S in 2010.
Santaris Pharma A/S was named by FierceBiotech as one of 2008's Fierce 15, designating it as one of the most promising private biotechnology companies in the industry.