Munich – Both members of the newly implemented Advisory Board are very experienced senior healthcare executives who have contributed during their long careers substantially to the development of the global generic pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry.
The Advisory Board will advise Formycon’s Executive Management Board and the Supervisory Board on strategic issues, operational aspects and growth opportunities related to Formycon’s business activities.
Gerhard Schaefer is German Citizen and graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stuttgart University. During his more than 30 years in the generic pharmaceutical industry, he held increasing senior management positions in development, quality assurance / control and business development at Azupharma, Knoll, Stada, HEXAL and Sandoz. Among his numerous responsibilities, he was appointed to Head of Development and Business Development at HEXAL in 2001 and at the same time became Member of the Board of Executive Directors of HEXAL AG. Since the acquisition of HEXAL AG by Novartis / Sandoz in 2005 and until February 2012, he was Managing Director at Sandoz International and Head of Global Product Development and Global Business Development at Sandoz, the second largest generic pharmaceutical company, where he was managing eleven development centers worldwide.
Simon Sturge is citizen of the United Kingdom and holds a degree in Biology from Sussex University. He has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Until recently, he was Corporate Senior Vice President of Biopharmaceuticals at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), a top-20 pharmaceutical company, and among the world largest biopharmaceutical enterprises. At BI he was responsible for the biopharmaceutical business unit which has approximately 2,200 employees. From 2008-2010 he was Chief Executive of OctoPlus, a Dutch-based listed biopharmaceutical company. In 1997 he founded RiboTargets, which in 2003 reversed into British Biotech, where he was also Chief Executive Officer. British Biotech was renamed Vernalis and he remained Chief Executive until 2008. Prior to this Simon Sturge was at Celltech for 10 years where he was also on the Celltech Group Board, before he became Chief Executive Officer at Lonza Biologics.
Formycon’s CFO Nicolas Combé said: “I would like to welcome Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Sturge to our Advisory Board. The Board will play an important role in our plans to create a world-class organization in biopharmaceutical and biosimilar development and commerzialization”.
Formycon’s CEO Carsten Brockmeyer said: “I am excited about these excellent appointments. Mr. Schaefer and Mr. Sturge will bring a breadth of experience to the company. Their expertise in a wide range of fields will be invaluable in driving forward Formycon’s business objectives”.