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Dr. Franco Merckling (Chief Executive Officer)
 Franco Merckling is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive with 18 years of commercial and General Management experience with leading pharmaceutical companies (Lilly, Merck and Eisai). He has held a series of sales and marketing management positions and has been responsible for team leadership and the commercial success of products such as Reopro, Zyprexa and Vioxx at various levels. Most recently, before joining Kenta, he has been the Managing Director of Eisai Italy. He brings extensive experience in both start-up and change management. Franco Merckling holds a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Zurich.
Dr. Michael Rudolf (Chief Scientific Officer)
 Michael Rudolf received a PhD degree in immunology from the University of Berne, Switzerland in 1996. Between 1997 and 2000, Michael carried out his post-doctoral training in the group of Prof. W. Martin Kast at Loyola University in Chicago, USA, where he ran several projects in the field of tumour immunology in Papilloma virus induced cancer and cell culture techniques of primary human lymphocytes. In 2000 he moved to San Diego to join Biogen Idec as a staff research scientist, where he worked until his return to Switzerland in late 2005. At Biogen Idec Michael was responsible for the preclinical development of monoclonal antibody candidates targeting tumour cells as well as designing in vivo models for proof-of-concept studies. During his scientific career, he has won several awards for his research and has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers.
Sharon Finch (Director Business Development)
 Sharon Finch holds a degree in Chemistry and Administration from City University, London. She also studied for a Masters in Business Law and holds a PGCE in Chemistry [Kings College, London]. Sharon has worked for more than 30 years in Business Development in the pharmaceutical industry. She was employed in this role with companies including Wellcome (now GSK), Ono Pharmaceuticals and Medeva (now part of UCB). Ahead of working with Kenta Biotech she has worked as an independent consultant for the pharmaceutical industry during which time she has concluded many deals on behalf of various clients.
Dr. Toni Perez (Senior Advisor Clinical Development)
 Toni Perez is a MD, specialist in Intensive Care, with diplomas of Pharmaceutical Industry Medicine and General Management Program. He has held several positions: at Novartis (Basel) as Head of Clinical Research of Infectious Diseases, Roche´s spin-off Basilea Pharmaceutica (Basel) Head of Clinical Research of Anti-Infectives, Almirall (Barcelona) Therapeutic Area Head of Clinical Research in Oncology, Gastrointestinal Track and Central Nervous System and at Esteve (Barcelona) Medical Director, and Member of the Board of Directors. He is advisor of pharmaceutical companies, biotechs and a CRO. He has contributed to the development, registration, launch and marketing of medicines in infectious diseases, oncology, central nervous system, and gastro-intestinal and urinary tracts among others. He has published 35 papers, some chapters in medical books, more than 70 abstracts and he has been an invited speaker in congresses, meetings and postgraduate courses.
Dr. Markus Tarköy (Head of Process Development)
 Markus Tarköy was trained as an organic chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland (ETHZ) and received also his PhD degree from the same institute. He pursued his studies for two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles, USA broadening his horizons in analytical techniques of biomolecules. After returning to Switzerland, he worked as a laboratory head for Schreiber Labs (a spin-off supported by ETHZ) before joining Berna Biotech in 1998. During his time at Berna, he has worked in the field of conjugate vaccines and contributed substantially to the development of Aerugen, an octavalent conjugate vaccine for the prevention of lung colonisation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients, as group leader of this project for three years.
Hedvika Lazar (Clinical Development Manager)
 Hedvika Lazar is a biologist by training with further education in pharmaceutical medicine (ECPM). In 2002 she joined Berna Biotech as a clinical development and medical affairs manager, where she was responsible for the strategic product development for influenza vaccines and the development and writing of product literature and promotional material. She was responsible for the conception of clinical trials according to GCP guidelines, study protocol design through discussions with opinion leaders and principal investigators, and the evaluation of clinical data and completion of clinical study reports. She has contributed to the design, rationale, and strategy for toxicology programs, and to the design of clinical studies together with CROs for the monoclonal antibodies project. Overall, Hedvika has more than five years experience in project management and clinical development & medical affairs at MDS Pharma Services and Berna Biotech.
Dr. Christophe Hammer (Head Regulatory Affairs)
 Christophe Hammer is a trained chemist from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, with further education in medicinal chemistry at the Boston University Medical Center. He received his PhD in bioorganic chemistry by the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. He began his career in the pharmaceutical industry with assignments as junior product manager at Abbott Switzerland in rheumatology and product manager at Aventis in Zurich for an oncology product. In 2001 he joined Berna Biotech as regulatory affairs manager, where he was responsible for the global regulatory management of an influenza vaccine product and several development projects. With 7 years of experience in marketing and regulatory positions he joined Kenta Biotech in 2006 and leads the worldwide regulatory activities of the company. |
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