Newly created role positions CDR-Life to pursue additional partnership opportunities.
CDR-Life Inc., a biotherapeutics company developing tumor-specific immunotherapies based on a proprietary antibody platform, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Björn Peters as Chief Business Officer. In this newly created role, Mr. Peters, a highly seasoned biotechnology and pharmaceutical executive, will be primarily responsible for business development and will report directly to Chief Executive Officer, Christian Leisner, Ph.D.
“Björn’s addition to our management team marks an important milestone for CDR-Life as we continue to pursue strategic partnerships for our highly innovative antibody therapies,” stated Dr. Leisner. “Having spent more than two decades focused on business development, strategy and management within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arenas, Björn’s proven experience and established relationships will be invaluable as we increase our visibility and look to expand opportunities for our tumor-specific T cell engagers.”
Mr. Peters added, “The targeting of intracellular antigens in tumor cells is a very promising approach to achieve better efficacy and safety outcomes and I am honored to join such a team of highly experienced and accomplished antibody specialists. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to further develop CDR-Life’s business strategy and to forge critical new partnerships which will help to progress the company’s growing portfolio of novel and promising immunotherapies across a range of indications.”
Prior to joining CDR-Life, Mr. Peters served as head of business development at both Allecra Therapeutics and Zealand Pharma. Earlier in his career, he held positions of increasing responsibility within business development at Shire Pharmaceuticals, Movetis (a spin-off from Johnson & Johnson, subsequently acquired by Shire Pharmaceuticals) and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Janssen-Cilag. During his tenure in business development, Mr. Peters has contributed to a successful series of both buy- and sell-side transactions with a total value exceeding $7 billon, including the sale of Movetis to Shire after the company went public on Euronext.