Executive Board
Larry Edwards
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Vita
Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Vita
Dr. Holger Zimmermann
Chief Research & Development Officer
Vita
Larry Edwards
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Larry Edwards is a US Business Executive with >20 years of experience in the US and Global Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industry. He was recently CEO of La Jolla Pharmaceuticals (LJPC), where he strategically made the company profitable which led to its acquisition by Innoviva for an 84% premium. Before that, he was the CEO of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals where he led the US and Global launch of XERAVA, before being acquired by LJPC.
Prior to this, he led the global commercialization strategies for the Launch of ZERBAXA for Cubist, before it was acquired by MSD. Larry started his Pharmaceutical career at MSD where he served in a range of US and Global commercial leadership roles.
Mandates:
- Independent Director for Clarametyx Biosciences
- Independent Director for Utility Therapeutics
Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Sabrina joined the Executive Board of AiCuris in September 2022. She is responsible for finance, HR, communications and investor relations.
With >10 years of experience in the biotech industry, Sabrina held several R&D and business leadership positions in cancer immunotherapy. In her latest role as Vice President, Business Planning and Portfolio Strategy at Immatics N.V., she was responsible for developing the company’s strategic plan, oversaw its implementation and communication to the board of directors, investors and analysts. Prior to that, she was Head of Business Planning and Capital Markets and Risk Management Officer. In this role she served as transaction lead for the SPAC merger between Immatics & Arya and the associated PIPE financing resulting into >245$ proceeds and the company´s listing on NASDAQ.
Earlier in her career, Sabrina re-located to the US and served as development lead for the company´s lead asset and supported establishing the US subsidiary. To this day she is benefiting from her international, intercultural and multidisciplinary experience in R&D execution during this time.
Sabrina is a biochemist by training and obtained her Ph.D. in Immunology from Eberhard-Karl-University in Tübingen, Germany.
Dr. Holger Zimmermann
Chief Research & Development Officer
Holger was part of the spin-out which formed AiCuris in 2006. Initially Holger was head of virology and also responsible for the development of the companies lead HCMV project Letermovir (out-licensed to MSD in 2012) before taking over responsibility for all AiCuris’ research activities as Chief Scientific Officer. After two years as the company’s managing director and deputy CEO and 6 years as its CSO Holger took over responsibility as CEO of AiCuris in 2015. In 2023 he took over the role of Chief Research and Development Officer. In this new role he is focusing on all research, development and CMC activities in the newly formed executive board of the AiCuris Anti-infective Cures AG.
Prior to AiCuris, Holger worked at Bayer Health Care as laboratory head and project leader in virology. He obtained his PhD in Biology in Cologne and worked overall seven years in academic institutions, including three years at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of the National University of Singapore.
Holger is author/co-author of numerous scientific publications and named inventor in more than 25 patent applications. He is member of national and international scientific societies and serves on several boards including those of:
- International Society on Antiviral Research
- German Society of Virology (GfV) on Antiviral Therapy
- Member of the Board of BioRiver
- Member of the Executive Board of Bio Deutschland
Management Team
Dr. Tamara Pfaff
Head of Preclinical Development
Vita
Silvia Riffel-Friedrich
Head of Regulatory Affairs
Vita
Dr. Helmut Buschmann
Head of Chemistry
Vita
Dr. Alexander Birkmann
Head of Project, Portfolio Management and Strategy
Vita
Dr. Tamara Pfaff
Head of Preclinical Development
Tamara joined AiCuris in 2010 as Head of Preclinical Drug Safety and steadily increased her responsibilities. She became Senior Director in 2018 and was responsible for all preclinical safety aspects of the AiCuris portfolio. In 2020, she became Head of Preclinical Development. Tamara started her industrial career in 2004 as Head of Laboratory Preclinical Development in the Global Research and Development department of Gruenenthal GmbH and was promoted International Preclinical Project Leader in 2009. She is veterinarian by training and in addition helds a master´s degree in applied toxicology. Tamara is certified pathologist and recognized as a Eurotox-registered toxicologist. She studied at the Universities of Gießen and Surrey, Guildford (UK).
Silvia Riffel-Friedrich
Head of Regulatory Affairs
Silvia joined AiCuris in 2009 as Head of Regulatory Affairs.
Prior to AiCuris Silvia was head of regulatory affairs EU/ROW at UCB, responsible for development products. She studied biology (intermediate Diploma) and pharmacy (registered pharmacist) at the University of Düsseldorf and began her industry career at Schwarz Pharma in Monheim in 1987. Over more than 20 years at Schwarz Pharma, she was a manager and group leader in regulatory affairs, dealing with development and maintenance of medicinal products.
Dr. Helmut Buschmann
Head of Chemistry
Helmut has a PhD in organic chemistry from the Rheinisch-Westfälisch Technische Hochschule Aachen and extensive industrial experience in analytical and medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and development, scale-up, pharmaceutical development, CMC, patent filing and prosecution. Helmut has over 30 years of international experience in drug discovery research and drug development in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology sectors, both in industry and academia. He has a long publication and patent record, being an author/co-author in more than 130 scientific publications, editor of various reference books and is a named inventor/co-inventor in more than 250 patent applications. Beside this he published 5 books and he acts as series editor of the book series \"Methods and Principles in Medicinal Chemistry”.
Dr. Alexander Birkmann
Head of Project, Portfolio Management and Strategy
Alexander Birkmann was part of the Bayer spin-out that founded AiCuris in 2006. At Bayer Healthcare, Alexander worked as Laboratory Head in Virology. He is biologist by training and received his PhD in the laboratory of Bernhard Fleckenstein at the University Erlangen-Nürnberg. At AiCuris, he started as Project Leader and successfully led the pritelivir project from the nonclinical phase through two Phase 2 clinical trials. From 2015 to July 2023, he was responsible for Bacteriology and Virology Research at AiCuris. Since August 2023, Alexander has taken on the role as the Head of Project, Portfolio Management and Strategy, leading AiCuris\' project management and business development units. In addition to more than 20 years of experience in various areas of drug development that he gained in his previous positions, he is also author/co-author of several publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Supervisory Board
Dr. Stefan Oschmann
Chairman
Vita
Helmut Jeggle
Chief Executive Officer Salvia GmbH
Vita
Helga Rübsamen‐Schaeff
Founding CEO of AiCuris
Vita
Sean Marett
CBO and CCO BioNTech SE
Vita
Dr. Stefan Oschmann
Chairman
Stefan Oschmann is a German business executive, who had served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck from April 2016 to April 2021. Before taking office as Chairman of the Executive board of Merck at the end of April 2016, he served as Vice Chairman and Deputy CEO.
Stefan Oschmann joined Merck in 2011 as a member of the Executive Board and was responsible for the Healthcare business sector until the end of 2014. He drove the transformation of the Biopharma business by optimizing its cost structures and improving the efficiency of its research & development model, which included a clear portfolio prioritization.
Before joining Merck, Stefan Oschmann worked for the U.S. pharma company MSD, where he served in a range of senior executive positions. He started his career at an agency of the United Nations, and worked for the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI).
Mandates:
UCB, Chairman
Josef Schörghuber Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees
National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), Vice President
Springer Nature AG & Co. KGaA (not publicly listed company), Member of the Supervisory Board
Helmut Jeggle
Chief Executive Officer Salvia GmbH
Mr. Jeggle is the Chief Executive Officer of Salvia GmbH (since 2014), where he is acting as a Business Angel and Venture Capital Investor. Helmut Jeggle served as General Partner at ATHOS KG, the Struengmann Family Office, from 2015 until April 2021. From 2007 until 2015, Mr. Jeggle served as Head of Direct Investments of ATHOS Service GmbH. From 2002 until 2007, Mr. Jeggle held various positions with Hexal AG, including Head of Business Planning & Analyses. Mr. Jeggle is Chairman of the BioNTech SE Supervisory Board and member of numerous supervisory boards, including 4SC AG. Mr. Jeggle has a degree in business administration from the University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm and earned his Master of Business Administration from the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology.
Helga Rübsamen‐Schaeff
Founding CEO of AiCuris
Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff founded AiCuris in 2006 as a spin-off from the infectious disease unit of Bayer HealthCare, which she had been leading since 1994. After building and running AiCuris as CEO until March 2015, she took over the chair of AiCuris\' Scientific Advisory Board. Before her time at Bayer, she was the scientific and executive director of the Chemotherapeutical Research Institute Georg-Speyer-Haus in Frankfurt. A chemist by training, Prof Rübsamen-Schaeff was awarded the venia legendi from the University of Frankfurt and has been professor of biochemistry since 1988. Prof. Rübsamen-Schaeff has served on numerous committees, such as, the Senate of the Fraunhofer Society, the University Council of the University of Vienna and the Jury for the Innovation Prize of the German President of State or the Scientific Panel for Health under the Horizon 2020 program of the EU. Presently, she is a member of the board of partners of E. Merck KG and the chair of its research council, a member of the supervisory board of Merck KGaA. She also is a member of the National Academy of Science, Leopoldina. She has been awarded numerous scientific and management prizes.
Sean Marett
CBO and CCO BioNTech SE
Sean Marett joined BioNTech SE in 2012 as Chief Business and Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to joining BioNTech, he worked in global strategic and regional marketing and sales roles at GlaxoSmithKline in the United States and Pfizer in Europe before taking business development executive roles at Evotec and Lorantis (sold to Celldex Therapeutics, Inc). Amongst his duties at BioNTech, Mr Marett has been responsible for licensing transactions, acquisitions and fundraising resulting in capital inflows into BioNTech of $1.5 billion. Whilst at BioNTech, Mr Marett has been Chairman of PHMR Ltd, a company specializing in market access and pharmaceutical reimbursement (sold to UDG Healthcare) and was non-executive director of KWS BioTest Ltd (sold to Charles River). He holds a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Kings College London and an MBA from Manchester Business School.