Biotech startups strengthen their teams

Cutiss: Kathi Mujynya Ludunge, Chief Operation Officer
The spin-off of the University of Zurich focusing on the development of «denovoSkin» a personalized skin tissue therapy for patients that suffer from large and deep skin defects appointed Kathi Mujynya Ludunge to the position of Chief Operation Officer. As per October 1, Kathi will be responsible for the Company’s operations as well as for all Manufacturing/ GMP/Quality activities (clinical and commercial products).

Kathi joins CUTISS from the Skin Research Institute of Singapore /A*STAR (Agency for Sciences, Technology and Research), where she was working since 2016 as Head of Operations of the Asian Skin Bank Platform. Prior to her relocation to Singapore, Kathi held several leading positions in life-sciences, among those managing GMP manufacturing and development projects for Healthpoint Therapeutics (Switzerland and USA), as well as leading the Manufacturing, Sciences and Technology (MSAT) department at Smith & Nephew (Fort Worth, Texas).

NBE Therapeutics: Steffen Heeger, Chief Medical Officer
The biopharmaceutical company developing best-in-class, immune-stimulatory antibody-drug conjugates (iADCsTM), appointed Steffen Heeger as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Steffen is an MD Ph.D. with over 15 years of industry experience in clinical development of targeted cancer therapies. He held senior medical positions at Merck-Serono, MorphoSys (all Germany) and, most recently, as CMO at Selvita, Poland. Throughout his career, he led clinical development programs predominantly in areas of hematological malignancies and in solid tumors.

In his new role at NBE Therapeutics, Stefan will lead the clinical development of the company’s first lead iADCTM program, NBE-002 targeting ROR1. He will be responsible for the clinical development and all medical and regulatory aspects of NBE-002 with a focus on solid tumor indications of high, unmet medical need, including triple-negative breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and sarcomas, as well as for new programs from the NBE iADCTM platform.

Stalicla: Stéphane Baudouin, Chief of Science
The Geneva-based startup, developing a first in class precision medicine platform to accelerate drug development for patients with Neurodevelopmental Disorders, welcomes Stéphane Baudouin as Chief of Science effective as of October 10, 2019. Baudouin is a neurobiologist with extensive research experience in the pathophysiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder. His previous work focused on the identification of molecular pathways and neuronal networks involved in the development of social skills and their breakdown in pathological conditions.

Stéphane takes over as Chief of Science from Luigi Boccuto, who will continue as Assistant Research Scientist at Greenwood Genetic Center (SC, USA). The company will pursue its collaboration with the Greenwood Genetic Center, which is a leading translational research center in genetics and neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD.

(RAN)

Photo L-R: Kathi Mujynya Ludunge, Steffen Heeger and Stéphane Baudouin.