About us

We are developing multi-specific antibody-based immunotherapies for inflammation and cancer.

Reproducible plug-and-play therapeutic design process using proprietary platforms λ-Cap™ and MATCH™ puts Numab in a unique position to overcome historical drug discovery barriers and build a pipeline of new and important medicines aimed to maximize patient benefits. Diverse research pipeline spans multiple therapeutic areas and creates the opportunity for the next generation of first-in-class and best-in-class medicines. Our lead candidate NM26, a unique multi-specific targeting IL-4/13 and IL-31 for best-in-class efficacy, is developed with a vision of delivering a lifelong cure to patients suffering from atopic dermatitis and other potential indications. Multiple partnerships with leading pharma companies validate the platform and development capabilities.

Management Team

Tea Gunde VP Discovery

Tea joined Numab in 2011, establishing Numab’s antibody discovery platform. From 2004 to 2011 Tea was Head of PK & PD at ESBATech where she was responsible for the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic characterization of antibody fragments. She led preclinical discovery and development projects in the field of ophthalmology and immuno-oncology. Tea was instrumental in the discovery and preclinical development of brolucizumab/Beovu®, a best-in-class anti-VEGF fragment for the treatment of age-related macular edema, launched by Novartis. She graduated with a degree in Molecular Biology and Immunology and obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich.

Roland Helfenstein Chief Financial Officer

Roland joined Numab in 2011. Prior to his current position, Roland worked for 7 years in the banking industry in Switzerland and Asia with positions in marketing, customer experience management, business process management and information technology. Roland holds a Licenciate in Economics and Business Administration and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Corporate Finance, both from the University of Zurich.

Peter Lichtlen Chief Medical Officer

Peter is the Chief Medical Officer and a co-founder of Numab. He holds an MD as well as a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich. In 2000 Peter joined ESBATech where he led several preclinical and clinical development projects with antibody fragments in oncology, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases as the Head of Clinical R&D. In particular, he designed the clinical proof-of-concept trial for brolucizumab/Beovu®, a best-in-class anti-VEGF fragment for the treatment of age-related macular edema, launched by Novartis. In 2011 Peter joined Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, where he became the company’s Chief Medical Officer. In this function, he managed the global clinical development portfolio and held overall responsibility for Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance and was responsible for interactions with major regulatory agencies as well as HTA bodies, leading to successful NDAs, MAAs and STAs. After the acquisition by Mallinckrodt in 2018, Peter joined Numab as a full-time Chief Medical Officer.

Taryn Losch Beridon VP Clinical Operations and Regulatory Affairs

Taryn joined the Numab team in January 2021 to build and lead the Clinical Operations and Regulatory Affairs functions for the organization. Prior to joining Numab, Taryn served in key leadership positions at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals (now Mallinckrodt) and Mahana Therapeutics, where she played a pivotal role in obtaining global marketing authorizations for Amitiza® capsules and, later, for Parallel™, the first FDA-approved prescription-only digital therapeutic (PDT) intended for use in adults with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). She earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and later obtained her Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Sebastian Meyer Chief Operating Officer

Sebastian is Numab’s Chief Operating Officer and oversees the project management, quality assurance, human resource, and support functions. He joined Numab in 2012 to head the engineering and process development group. He is an inventor of the λ-Cap™ stable scaffold and MATCH™ multispecific format technologies underlying Numab’s pipeline assets. Before joining Numab, Sebastian was responsible for DSP and analytics development at ESBATech, focusing on novel scFv drug candidates in Phase I/II of clinical development, including brolucizumab/Beovu®, a best-in-class anti-VEGF fragment for the treatment of age-related macular edema, launched by Novartis. Prior to this, Sebastian was a bioprocess development group leader at Cytos Biotechnology. Sebastian graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Hamburg and received his PhD and eMBA from the University of Zurich.

Oliver Middendorp Chief Business Officer

Oliver is the Chief Business Officer and a co-founder of Numab. From 2004 until 2010, he was at ESBATech as Head of Alliance Management and responsible for intellectual property. After the acquisition by Alcon in September 2009, Oliver became a member of Alcon’s R&D Alliance Group, tasked with search, evaluation, negotiations and alliance management of collaborations, while remaining Head of Alliance Management at ESBATech, and a member of the ESBATech Management. Oliver studied Molecular Biology and Immunology at the University of Zurich and received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel in 2004.

James Singleton General Counsel

James is General Counsel of Numab and Secretary of the Numab Board of Directors. Prior to joining Numab in October 2021, James served as General Counsel for Waypoint Capital (US) and its healthcare fund Gurnet Point Capital from 2016 to 2021, and served on the board of Boston Pharmaceuticals, Tremeau Pharmaceuticals and Auregen BioTherapeutics. From 2004 to 2016, James held senior legal leadership positions at Serono International and, following Merck’s acquisition of Serono, Merck KGaA, serving as Head of Legal for Serono R&D, Merck’s corporate venture fund Merck Ventures, Merck Biopharma Global Business Development and Merck Biosimilars. James received his Juris Doctor degree from NYU School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts degree from State University of New York at Albany.

Daniel Snell Senior VP Research and Preclinical Development

Dan joined Numab in 2019. He began his career in industry at Oxford Glycosciences, UK in 2002 developing antibody-based therapeutics in the field of Oncology. He then spent 7 years at Genzyme, a Sanofi company, where he helped to establish the antibody therapeutics group of Genzyme in Cambridge, UK. He led the protein engineering and molecular biology teams and was responsible for leading therapeutic programs in oncology and immunology. Dan moved to Switzerland in 2012 and worked for Molecular Partners as VP, Biology and led a team responsible for the preclinical biological characterization of protein-based therapeutics in immune-oncology, oncology, immunology, and ophthalmology. He was also instrumental in collaborations with Roche, Janssen, Allergan and Immunogen. Dan holds a PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Reading and performed a postdoc at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, where he studied signaling pathways of platelet activation.

Martin Stern Senior VP Clinical Science

Martin joined Numab in 2023. He holds an MD from Basel University, where he also spent more than a decade practicing oncology and hematology with a focus on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and led the cancer immunotherapy laboratory at the Department of Biomedicine. Martin left academia in 2014 to join Roche Pharma Research and Early Development where he spent the next 8 years bringing cancer immunotherapy molecules into early clinical development. Prior to joining Numab, he led the clinical development group at Affivant, a biotech focusing on innate immune cell engagers.

David Urech Chief Executive Officer

David is the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of Numab. Prior to starting Numab, David was Head of Research & Development at ESBATech, where he conceived and implemented ESBATech’s antibody discovery platform. He was responsible for the discovery and preclinical development of brolucizumab/Beovu®, a best-in-class anti-VEGF fragment for the treatment of age-related macular edema, launched by Novartis. David holds an MSc in Molecular Biology and Neurosciences from the University of Zurich, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the Biocenter in Basel.

Elmar vom Baur VP Project and Alliance Management

Elmar joined Numab in 2020 as project leader of its development projects and is now heading the project and alliance management team at Numab. He has 20 years of project and alliance management experience in biotech and pharma, including at Serono, Merck Serono, Novo Nordisk and Molecular Partners. During this time Elmar brought as project leader numerous projects in oncology and inflammation into clinical development. Before moving to biotech, Elmar obtained a Master’s in biotechnology engineering from the ESBS in Strasbourg, a PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Strasbourg, and performed a Postdoc at Harvard Medical School in the department of Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology.

Stefan Warmuth Senior VP Technology and CMC

Stefan is responsible for the CMC activities at Numab including protein engineering, analytics, and formulation, USP and DSP development. Before joining Numab in 2015, Stefan worked in pharmaceutical development at CSL Behring, focusing on process development and optimization to support clinical production and up-scaling. Stefan studied biochemistry in Tübingen and Zurich and graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from the ETH Zurich and obtained his PhD in Structural Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Zurich.

Board of Directors

Michael K. Bauer Director, Chairman Compensation Committee

Michael Bauer was appointed to the Numab Board of Directors in June 2021. He currently holds the position as Venture Partner at Novo Holdings. From 2006-2020, Michael was employed at Genmab in various positions with increasing responsibility, starting in Project Management taking daratumumab / DARZALEX® into clinical development. Between 2010-2018 he led Clinical Development and was part of the senior leadership team that repositioned and rebuilt the company into a global cancer and antibody powerhouse. From 2018 he led R&D Operations preparing the company for filing of its first own product. Prior to Genmab, Michael worked as an Associate at BankInvest Biomedical Venture and as Licensing Associate in Scientific Licensing at Novo Nordisk, after having spent 7 years as Research Scientist at Novo Nordisk covering areas such as endocrinology, metabolic disease, cancer, and inflammation.

Before joining the industry, Michael worked for 6 years at the Research Centre for Developmental Medicine & Biology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, investigating causes and possible treatment modalities of intra-uterine growth restriction. Michael earned a Masters (Dipl. Ing. agr.) in Agricultural Science from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Science – summa cum laude – from the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Michael currently has no additional board seats.

Laura Brege Director, Chairman Audit Committee

Laura Brege was appointed to the Numab Board of Directors in August 2023. She is a Senior Advisor at BridgeBio Pharma (NASDAQ: BBIO), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing novel, genetically targeted therapies. Prior to joining BridgeBio Pharma, Ms. Brege served as Managing Director of Cervantes Life Science Partners, LLC., a health care advisory and consulting company. From 2012 to 2015, Laura served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Nodality, a privately held biotechnology company focused on oncology and immunology. Previously, Laura held several senior-level positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, (acquired by Amgen) from 2006 to 2011, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Onyx, she was a General Partner at Red Rock Capital Management, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage financing for technology companies. Prior to Red Rock, she was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at COR Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, Laura served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Flextronics and Vice President and Treasurer of The Cooper Companies. Laura earned her undergraduate degree from Ohio University and has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Laura serves on the boards of Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Pacira Pharmaceuticals, and Edgewise Therapeutics.

 

Matthias Fehr Director

Matthias Fehr was appointed to the Numab Board of Directors in June 2021. He currently holds the position of Head of Private Equity at HBM Partners. Matthias has more than twenty years of experience in private and public equity investment management and research. He is a former senior sell-side analyst at Lombard Odier for the biotech and medical technology industries.

Matthias is a former scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and holds an MSc and Ph.D. in chemistry from ETH Zurich. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst since 2002.

Matthias currently also serves on the board of Swixx Biopharma, Sphingotec, and Farmalatam.

Carlo Incerti Chairman of the Board

Carlo Incerti was appointed to the Numab Board of Directors in June 2021. He currently holds the position of Operating Partner at Forbion. A medical doctor by training, Carlo Incerti brings over three decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He most recently held the position of Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Medical Affairs at Sanofi Genzyme.

Before his time at Sanofi and Genzyme, Carlo was a founding shareholder, Board member, and Chief Executive officer at Biofil S.r.l., a start-up active in the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of systems for leukocyte depletion of blood and derivatives, which was acquired by Fresenius Kabi of Germany in 1993.

Prior to joining the industry, Carlo was an Associate Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Modena, with a main research focus on thyroid diseases and sex hormones.

Carlo currently also serves on the board of Azafaros B.V. (Chairman), EryDel S.p.A (Chairman), Inversago Pharma (Chairman), VectorY (Chairman), and is a Founding Member and on the Consortium Assembly of IRDiRC, the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium.

Jing Lou Director

Jing Lou was appointed to the Numab Board of Directors in November 2022. Jing is a co-founder of 3SBio Group and currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors, the chief executive officer and president of 3SBio Group. He is responsible for the strategic development and planning, overall operational management and major decision making of 3SBio Group.

Jing has extensive experience in capital markets transactions and initial public offerings. He lead 3SBio’s IPO on Nasdaq, one of the few high profile IPOs in the U.S by Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Taking the opportunity of Hong Kong capital market, Jing successfully led the privatization and delisting of 3SBio Inc. from Nasdaq and relisting it on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Jing also lead the landmark acquisition of Sunshine Guojian, and subsequent listing of Sunshine Guojian on Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market.

Jing has been highly active in pharmaceutical research and has made substantial contribution to 3SBio Group’s R&D of pharmaceutical products. He was the leading scientist and principal investigator in 3SBio Group’s successful development of EPIAO and TPIAO. He co-invented a “preparation process for recombinant human thrombopoietin” and a “method for improving the stability of polypeptides in human bodies and its application” in 2000 and 2001, respectively. He has published in a number of academic journals on microbiology and medicinal biotechnology. His research has been recognized with various awards. In 2006, he was awarded the “First Prize of Shenyang Science and Technology Progress Award” for his research on recombinant human thrombopoietin. In 2007, he was awarded the “Third Prize of Liaoning Province Scientific and Technological Achievements” for his contribution to the industrialization of production of recombinant human thrombopoietin. In 2017, he was awarded “Liaoning Province Outstanding Entrepreneur” and “Friendship Award of Liaoning Province”.

Jing obtained a Bachelor of Medicine degree in clinical medicine from Shanghai Second Military Medical University in July 1985. He conducted post-doctoral research at the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. after obtaining a Ph.D. degree in molecular and cell biology from Fordham University in the U.S. in February 1994. He also obtained an Executive Master of Business Administration from China Europe International Business School in September 2008.

Oliver Middendorp Director

Oliver is the Chief Business Officer and a co-founder of Numab. From 2004 until 2010, he was at ESBATech as Head of Alliance Management and responsible for intellectual property. After the acquisition by Alcon in September 2009, Oliver became a member of Alcon’s R&D Alliance Group, tasked with search, evaluation, negotiations and alliance management of collaborations, while remaining Head of Alliance Management at ESBATech, and a member of the ESBATech Management. Oliver studied Molecular Biology and Immunology at the University of Zurich and received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel in 2004.

David Urech Director

David is the Chief Executive Officer and a co-founder of Numab. Prior to starting Numab, David was Head of Research & Development at ESBATech, where he conceived and implemented ESBATech’s antibody discovery platform. He was responsible for the discovery and preclinical development of brolucizumab/Beovu®, a best-in-class anti-VEGF fragment for the treatment of age-related macular edema, launched by Novartis. David holds an MSc in Molecular Biology and Neurosciences from the University of Zurich, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the Biocenter in Basel.

Scientific Advisors Immunology

Lisa Beck

Lisa Beck, MD. is a Lowell A. and Carol A. Goldsmith Professor in Dermatology at the Department of Dermatology, at the University of Rochester, NY. She was the lead author of the 2014 New England Journal of Medicine dupilumab paper that set the stage for the FDA approval of this drug in March 2017. She is the Co-Director of the URMC Center for Allergic Disease Research (CADR) which was recently chosen as one of four US centers with the World Allergy Organizations Center of Excellence designation.

Thomas Bieber

Thomas Bieber, MD, PhD. is a Professor for Dermatology and Allergology at the University of Bonn, Germany. He is the Chief Editor of Allergy, the official Journal of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and he serves as a board member of several national and international societies.

Michael J. Cork

Michael J. Cork, BSc MB PhD FRCP is a Professor of Dermatology at the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Sheffield UK. He is a member of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline development group for the treatment of Atopic Eczema in children.

Mette Deleuran

Mette Deleuran, MD, DMSc. is a Professor and the Chairman at the Department of Dermatology at the Aarhus University Hospital, in Aarhus, Denmark. She specializes in dermatology with a focus on atopic dermatitis and inflammatory skin diseases. Her research includes basic science, epidemiology and clinical studies and she is a founding member of the International Society of Atopic Dermatitis.

Scientific Advisors Oncology

Robert L. Ferris

Robert L. Ferris, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center of the University of Pittsburgh, where he is a Professor of Oncology and Immunology and a Co-Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center. Robert is a leading expert in the immuno-biology and treatment of head and neck cancer. He has been the principal investigator in multiple Phase I-III clinical trials and his research is focused on cellular immune mechanisms of natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells, and T lymphocyte activation against head and neck cancer tumor antigens.

Matthew Galsky

Matthew Galsky, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology and a Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health Systems hospitals in New York. Matthew also serves as Director of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the Tisch Cancer Institute. He specializes in the care of patients with genitourinary malignancies (i.e. bladder and kidney cancer). His research focuses on the development of novel treatments for these cancers, and he uses team-science based approaches to understand sensitivity and resistance to such therapies.

David Hong

David Hong, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine and the Associate Vice President of Clinical Research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Throughout his career, he has developed an interest in studying the efficacy of novel drug combinations in patients with solid tumors. Recently his research endeavors have focused on developing personalized therapies for patients, whose tumors bear specific genetic mutations/amplifications and combining targeted therapies with immunotherapies.

Ignacio Melero

Ignacio Melero, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of immunology at the Academic Hospital of Navarra and at the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra. He leads a group working in translational tumor immunotherapy with emphasis on cell therapy, cytokine gene therapy, and immune-stimulatory monoclonal antibodies. Earlier in his career, he contributed to seminal discoveries in the function Natural Killer cells, and T-cell co-stimulation via CD137 (4-1BB). Ignacio has been awarded the BIAL Prize of Medicine, the Conde de Cartagena Award from the Royal Academy of Medicine, Doctor Durantez LAIR Foundation Award and a CRI research award. He has served on advisory boards of Bristol Myers-Squibb, Roche-Genentech, AstraZeneca, Merck Serono and Boehringer Ingelheim, and holds research grants by Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Alligator.

Mario Sznol

Mario Sznol, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology). Mario, formerly with the National Cancer Institute, has an international reputation in cancer drug development. His expertise and experience is in cancer immunotherapy, drug development for cancer, and treatment of patients with melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. He is working to expand the opportunities for clinical trials at the Yale Cancer Center, particularly those focusing on immunotherapy and novel agents.

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