Lovisa Afzelius is an origination partner at Flagship Pioneering and the former SVP of Strategy & Operations at Flagship-founded Cogen Immune Medicines, now known as Repertoire Immune Medicines. A computational scientist by training, she has two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery, from early inception to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas.

Previously, Lovisa built and led Pfizer’s systems immunology function and served as executive director of clinical programs. In this role, she launched several Phase II studies across autoimmune indications and as a member of the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit leadership team, Lovisa co-managed the portfolio from early target discovery to Phase II clinical trials across all immunological assets. In addition, she served on Pfizer’s Worldwide R&D Data Strategy Committee.

In 2017, Lovisa co-founded Elsa.science, a digital health company in the rheumatoid arthritis space where she serves as chairman of the board. She also serves on the board of the Swedish New England Chamber of Commerce. Before moving to the US in 2013, Lovisa was CEO of BioChromix Pharma.

Lovisa began her career at AstraZeneca as Project Director, Global In Vitro Metabolism Leader and Computational Chemist across cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Lovisa has received numerous accolades for her work: she was included in the top 100 ​“most influential persons under age 40 in Sweden” by Affärsvärlden, and ​“scientist of tomorrow” at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ 30th anniversary. Lovisa received the Rosenön Award for best thesis of the year within the field of pharmacodynamics/​pharmacokinetics in Sweden.

Lovisa holds a Ph.D. in computational chemistry from Uppsala University, a Master of Science in integrative pharmacology from Gothenburg University as well as an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Theonie is a principal at Flagship Pioneering where she conceives, builds and grows the science, intellectual property and business strategy that form the foundation of Flagship’s next breakthrough startups. She co-founded Alltrna and serves as its chief innovation officer. 

Prior to joining Flagship, Theonie completed her graduate studies in cell and molecular biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focused on replication fork dynamics in the context of cancer development and therapeutics. Theonie has received several awards and has been granted multiple fellowships for her academic work, including an NIH NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship. During her graduate studies, Theonie held multiple leadership positions on Executive and Curriculum Committees. She also completed a Wharton Business Foundations Specialization and was a mentor at the yearly Larta Institute NIH CAP FeedForward Sessions. 

Theonie is a Business Advisory Board member of the Harvard Institute for RNA Medicine and a member of the Bioscience & Investor Inclusion Group (BIIG) Diverse Talent Network Group. Theonie’s work has resulted in multiple pending patents and publications, including articles in Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell and Journal of Biological Chemistry.

91. tRNA therapies, Lovisa Afzelius, Founding CEO, Theonie Anastassiadis, Co-founder & CIO, Alltrna

Synopsis: 
In this episode of the Biotech2050 podcast, Dr. Mathai Mammen, CEO of FogPharma, shares valuable insights into the future trends of the biotech industry and the development of peptide-based therapeutics. Dr. Mammen's extensive career trajectory, from academia to leading pharmaceutical organizations, provides a comprehensive understanding of the industry's evolution and the pivotal roles he played at Theravance, Merck, and J&J. The episode delves into the significance of intracellular protein interactions and FogPharma's focus on developing helicon peptides to address this unmet need. Dr. Mammen's emphasis on a moonshot culture at FogPharma, coupled with his strategic approach to commercial success in biotech, makes this episode essential listening for executives in the biotech industry who are looking to stay ahead of future trends and gain insights into the innovative approaches shaping the industry's landscape. His profound knowledge and experience position him as a thought leader, offering invaluable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in biotech, making this episode a compelling resource for industry executives seeking to implement strategies for commercial success in the biotech sector.

Biography:
Mathai Mammen is a world-renowned innovator in drug discovery, development, and team and company building. He brings significant global R&D and corporate leadership experience to his role as CEO, President and Chairman at FogPharma.

Most recently, Mathai was a member of the executive committee at Johnson & Johnson, where he served as executive vice president of pharmaceuticals, R&D. During his tenure, he spearheaded a significant evolution of Janssen’s R&D, one of the largest R&D organizations in the world. Mathai was a key leader in Johnson & Johnson’s bold foray into COVID vaccines and he helped drive Janssen’s substantial growth to become one of the top pharmaceutical companies globally. Under Mathai’s leadership, Janssen R&D executed 40+ acquisitions and licenses and 350+ strategic partnerships and collaborations. A central pillar of his strategy was data science, which he used to couple recent revolutionary advances in data, compute and algorithmic approaches to every aspect of discovering and developing medicines. Mathai led his team to global approvals of eight new medicines, including Tremfya™, Darzalex Faspro™, Balversa™, Carvykti™, Rybrevant™, Ponvory™, Spravato™ and Tecvayli™, with many additional global approvals for expanded indications of marketed products.

Prior to his role at Johnson & Johnson, Mathai served as senior vice president at Merck, where he was responsible for multiple research areas, including cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases, immunology, oncology and immuno-oncology. Before Merck, he led R&D at Theravance, Inc., a company he co-founded out of graduate school based on his work at Harvard University with Dr. George Whitesides. Under his leadership, Theravance advanced a robust pipeline of multiple development-stage compounds resulting in five approved pharmaceutical products, and separated into two companies: Theravance Biopharma, Inc. and Innoviva, Inc.

In addition to his extensive corporate experience, Mathai currently serves on the board of directors of 10x Genomics, Inc. He has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and patents.

Mathai holds an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (HST) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.

Biotech's Game Changers & Revolutionizing Therapeutics, Dr. Mammen, CEO, FogPharma

Biotech2050 Podcast is a think tank chronicling the disruptions changing the biotech industry over the next 50 years.

Biotech's Game Changers & Revolutionizing Therapeutics, Dr. Mammen, CEO, FogPharma

Biotech2050 Podcast

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