Press Release
Molecular Partners AG announces Andreas Harstrick, M.D., as its Chief Medical Officer
Zurich-Schlieren, March 17, 2015. Molecular Partners AG is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Andreas Harstrick as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and new member of the Executive Management Team. Dr. Andreas Harstrick will assume the role as CMO starting May 1, 2015 and in his position he will oversee Molecular Partner’s clinical activities and expand the clinical development team.
Dr. Andreas Harstrick brings 28 years of experience in Oncology to the company. He has a track record of designing clinical trials leading to approval of antibody drugs, including Erbitux (cetuximab targeting EGFR) and Cyramza (ramucirumab targeting VEGFR2). Further he has in-depth experience in setting-up clinical oncology teams and he has held several senior executives roles at leading international companies.
Andreas has worked for Imclone Systems, Branchburg NJ, where since 2012 he held the position as SVP Medical Sciences and was a member of the Lilly Oncology Program Re-view Board and Lilly Oncology Business Development Committee. In that position he led the Imclone Medical Sciences Department and was responsible for the medical leadership and strategy for the company’s projects in all geographies.
Before that, Dr. Andreas Harstrick held the position as SVP Clinical Operations, Data Sciences and Medical Communications at Imclone where he managed three departments with more than 200 employees and oversaw the clinical development budget of the group. Since 2008, Andreas was part of Imclone’s Management Committee.
Prior to moving to the US, Andreas was VP Clinical Development at Imclone International and SVP Global Clinical Development Unit Oncology at Merck Serono, both in Germany.
Dr. Andreas Harstrick had spent his medical career at the University Hospital and Cancer Center Hannover Germany, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo NY, as well as the West German Cancer Center, Essen, Germany.
He earned his MD at Medical School Hannover, Germany, and in 1999 he became Associate Professor for Internal Medicine, University of Essen, Germany.
Dr. Andreas Harstrick noted, “I am pleased to join Molecular Partners, a company which after its transformational year 2014 will certainly continue its dynamic growth path. The DARPin technology platform is unique and offers transforming opportunities in multiple fields of application, including oncology. This is where I can bring into play my experience in successfully managing clinical programs. In my new role, I’m looking forward to expand the clinical development team at Molecular Partners.”
“We are excited to welcome Andreas in our team,” said Christian Zahnd, CEO of Molecular Partners AG. “His proven leadership and experience in running successful clinical trials will be invaluable to us as we continue our dynamic pattern of growth. Taking on this key role within the company Andreas perfectly complements our executive team.”
About Molecular Partners AG
Molecular Partners is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing a new powerful class of therapies known as DARPins™. DARPins™ are potent, specific and versatile small protein thera‐ pies which have the potential to offer benefits over conventional monoclonal antibodies or other cur‐ rently available protein therapeutics. The DARPin technology has the potential to enable a “multi‐ benefit” approach to treatment which enables DARPins to target multiple pathways, or multiple epitopes on a single target to achieve substantial patient benefit. DARPins™ have the potential to ad‐ vance modern medicine and significantly improve the treatment of serious diseases, including cancer and sight‐threatening disorders.
Molecular Partners has four compounds in various stages of clinical and preclinical development and several more in the research stage, with a current focus on ophthalmology and oncology. Its most ad-vanced product candidate is abicipar pegol, for which the company’s partner Allergan plans to initiate a Phase III clinical trial in wet AMD in 2015. The company has ongoing research and development partner-ships with leading pharmaceutical companies including Allergan, Roche and Janssen and is backed by established biotech investors.
For more information regarding Molecular Partners, please visit: www.molecularpartners.com.
For further details, please contact
Rolf Schläpfer
Hirzel.Neef.Schmid.Konsulenten
+41 (0)43 344 4242
rolf.schlaepfer@konsulenten.ch
Dr. Christian Zahnd, CEO
christian.zahnd@molecularpartners.com
Dr. Patrick Amstutz, COO
patrick.amstutz@molecularpartners.com
Tel: +41 (0) 44 755 77 00
