Basel, Switzerland, April 27, 2018 - Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) reported today that as of May 1, 2018, Dr. Gerrit Hauck is appointed as Chief Technology Officer and member of the Management Committee. He will succeed Dr. Günter Ditzinger who will take on new responsibilities at Basilea.
Dr. Hauck joins Basilea from Sanofi, where he was Cluster Head Synthetic Molecules. In this role he was overseeing most of the company's technical development programs for synthetic molecules from pre-clinical candidates to launch. At the same time he was a member of Sanofi's Research Stage Gate Committee, which is responsible for the transition of candidate molecules from research into development. He also brings significant experience in implementing strategic projects with contract manufacturing organizations. Dr. Hauck graduated as a pharmacist from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and holds a PhD from Saarland University, Germany.
In addition, Basilea reported that Dr. Josef Künzle, Head of Global Quality Management and a member of the Extended Management Committee, will retire effective October 31, 2018. He will be succeeded by Dr. Anne Stehlin, who joins Basilea from Novartis Pharma AG where she served as Global Head of Product Quality Lifecycle Management. In this role, she was responsible for the management of the product quality stewardship of all Novartis biologics and biosimilars throughout the product lifecycle. Prior to this, she had several positions with increasing responsibilities within the Novartis technical operations organization, such as Site Quality Head and Production Head. Dr. Stehlin holds a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PharmD) from the University of Strasbourg, France. She will initially serve as Basilea's Deputy Head of Global Quality Management until October 31, 2018.
Chief Executive Officer David Veitch commented: "We are very pleased that Dr. Hauck will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer at Basilea. He has over 24 years of experience in various technical operations and management functions at Sanofi and its predecessor companies, which involved formulation development, plant management and global CMC leadership. He has demonstrated his ability to manage contract manufacturing organizations and to successfully develop alliances and collaborations with external partners."
David Veitch added: "Dr. Ditzinger joined Basilea in 2002 as CMC Project Leader and Pharmaceutical Development Manager and has since then successfully assumed broader responsibilities. We take the opportunity to thank Günter for his commitment and his valuable contribution to Basilea's progress during the past years and we look forward to him continuing to contribute to Basilea's future success in his new role."
David Veitch further commented: "Dr. Künzle joined Basilea in 2007 and assumed roles of increasing responsibility becoming Head of Global Quality Management in 2013. He successfully established and lead our Quality Unit. We thank Josef for his commitment and his valuable contribution to Basilea's progress during the past years. We are very pleased that Dr. Anne Stehlin, with her extensive functional leadership experience, will assume the role of Head of Global Quality Management following Dr. Josef Künzle's retirement. We welcome Gerrit and Anne to Basilea and wish them lots of success in their new roles."