Experienced team and dedicated financial partners.

François obtained his PhD at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He worked for many years in several pharmaceutical companies such as Genentech, GSK and Merck Serono where he managed R&D programs in the CNS area.

He also founded several biotechs such as Addex (listed on the Swiss market) or Prexton Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck), all dedicated to the discovery of novel treatments for CNS diseases.

Anton obtained his MD degree from Pavlov Medical University (St. Petersburg) and his PhD studies in St. Petersburg and Utrecht. In 2004, Anton joined Abbott as group leader and then was promoted to research fellow, department head and director. Anton and his teams have brought several compounds into preclinical and clinical development, supported licensing and due diligence decisions. Anton founded several Biotechs and medical devices companies. Anton is co-founder of Exciva.

Mirko holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, Boston. He also earned a Doctorate in Finance from from the University of Mannheim/Germany.

Mirko worked as consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and later in investment firms such as MPM Capital and TVM Capital. Mirko co-founded GPC Biotech (Munich and Princeton, NJ) and served as CFO for a decade. He served on the Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Stichting Preferente Aandelen QIAGEN, as well as Quantapore Inc., and is currently a board member of Aptorum Inc.

Duc is graduated from the French Grandes Ecoles d’ingénieurs ESPCI in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Duc also holds a MSc degree in organic and bioorganic chemistry from Paris VI University. Duc worked in R&D in many pharmas such as Sanofi, Pfizer, Lundbeck and start-ups (Preglem, Arisgen, EspeRare, Prexton). He managed projects in clinical development up to registration. At Exciva, Duc is responsible for the drug development programs, providing pre-IND non-clinical and CMC leadership with clinical and regulatory inputs to ensure successful transition of lead candidates into clinical development.

Hans received is MD degree from Karls University Heidelberg, followed by a PhD in Pharmacology. For the past 30+ years, his focus was on drug development, starting at Ciba/Novartis, and several US companies as CMO, working in neuropsychiatric indications. Six CNS drugs made it to market such as memantine. Hans is currently the CMO at Athira, Seattle, USA. He is co-inventor of Deraphan®, co-founder of Exciva, and serves as Exciva Clinical Advisory Board member.

Dr. Sreenivasarao Vepachedu is a medicinal chemist and a registered patent attorney with extensive experience in R&D in chemistry; and patent & trademark preparation, prosecution, and IP risk management in biotech, chemical, and pharmaceutical areas. Sreenivasarao worked at Rutgers University, the University of Maryland at College Park, National Institutes of Health, Lilly, DeCode Genetics, Incyte, Abbott and various law firms in the US.

Vikram received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Sheffield, UK and a PotDoc at Stanford School of Medicine. Vikram’s experience spans a wide spectrum of industry functions including venture capital, business development, transactions, market access, drug development. Vikram is an investor, entrepreneur for 25+ years in the pharma field. Vikram was CEO of Cipla and built a pipeline of branded products to treat CNS disorders. He served on the boards of Stempeutics, Chase Pharmaceuticals, and Cipla.

Raphael joined the Life Sciences Team of Andera Partners (formerly Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners) in 2001. Previously, he worked in Healthcare Corporate Finance at Goldman Sachs starting at Salomon Smith Barney. is a graduate of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and holds a postgraduate diploma in Economics and Finance from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP), Paris. Raphaël is a Director of Axonics, Poxel, ReViral, MedDay, Grey Wolf, Enyo Pharma and Dynacure.

Stefanie is Investment manager in the Life Science LBBW VC team. Prior to joining LBBW VC, she gained over five years of international experience in biomedical innovation: in project management (EU-funded project), business development (public-private partnerships and in-licensing) and consulting (non-dilutive funding) in academia and industry with the Global Care Initiative consortium, at MedDay Pharmaceuticals and EY. Stefanie Wojciech obtained a PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular and Cellular Biology from Université Paris Sud X, holds a Diploma in Biochemistry from Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany.

Sofia joined the Life Sciences Team of Andera Partners (formerly Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners) in 2009.

Prior to joining Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, she worked as a consultant at L.E.K. Consulting in London and as a research scientist at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals in Boston, US. Sofia obtained her first degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and her PhD in Cell Biology from Cancer Research UK. Sofia is a member of the board of LogicBio Therapeutics, Tricares, Avalyn Pharma and Sanifit.