Secarna Pharmaceuticals Appoints Alexander Gebauer, MD, PhD as CEO and Managing Director

MUNICH/MARTINSRIED, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / February 4, 2021 / Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG (“Secarna”), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of next generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies to address challenging or previously undruggable targets via its LNAplus^TM platform, announced today that the Company has appointed Alexander Gebauer, MD, PhD as CEO and Managing Director. Dr. Gebauer brings more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in leadership roles in North America, Europe and India. His focus has been on R&D, from early discovery up to launch and life cycle management, as well as business development and designing and implementing company strategies.

“I am delighted to welcome Alexander, a highly experienced pharma executive with an outstanding track record and extensive leadership and management experience. He has successfully led products into clinical development through the approval process and has been instrumental in securing high-value transactions. He will undoubtedly bring the expertise essential for the further development and success of Secarna,” stated Christian Pangratz, Managing Director of Secarna Pharmaceuticals.

Before joining Secarna, Dr. Gebauer most recently served as CEO and Chairman of Omeicos Ophthalmics Inc. (Cambridge, MA, USA), where he was responsible for developing the Company’s pipeline programs into clinical development stages. In parallel, he acted as Managing Director of Berlin-based Omeicos Therapeutics GmbH, advancing its lead compound into phase 2 development, and successfully raising the Company’s C-round. From 2014 to 2016, Alexander Gebauer was President and Head of Global R&D at the Sun Pharma Group leading the R&D function integration during the Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited / Sun Pharma merger. Prior to his time at Sun Pharma, Dr. Gebauer worked at Merz Pharmaceuticals from 2005 to 2014. Here he served as CSO and Senior Vice President, Head Global Research & Development. During this time, he led the company’s first biologics license application (US-BLA) for a top-priority compound, gaining FDA approval in minimum time. He also was fundamental in reorganizing the global R&D team, closely aligning clinical and pre-clinical R&D functions. From 1992 to 2005 Dr. Gebauer held various positions at Hoechst Group/Aventis/Sanofi-Aventis, including Head of Clinical Discovery & Human Pharmacology and Vice President Project Direction.

Alexander Gebauer, CEO of Secarna Pharmaceuticals, said: “I am thrilled to be joining Secarna at such an exciting time. Through compelling scientific results and collaborations with leading biopharmaceutical companies, Secarna has successfully positioned its proprietary LNAplus^TM drug discovery platform as a fast, reliable, scalable and efficient tool for the development of safe and efficacious antisense therapies. I am very much looking forward to working with the Secarna team to further advance the Company as the field of antisense oligonucleotide therapeutics is rapidly growing.”

Dr. Gebauer is a licensed physician with a PhD in pharmacology from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany and holds a degree in computer science from CBI Wiesbaden. Since 2010, he maintains a teaching position at International Pharmacoeconomics and Health Economics at Business School Fresenius (University of Cardiff/Fresenius University).

Dr. Gebauer also holds board positions, including Executive Chairman of the board of US-based Galimedix Inc, which he co-founded. From 2017 to 2019, Dr. Gebauer was a member of the board of directors of Vaccentis AG, a swiss oncology biotech.

About Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG

Secarna Pharmaceuticals is the next generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) company addressing high unmet medical needs in the areas of immuno-oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, as well as viral, neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases. Secarna’s mission is to maximize the performance and output of its proprietary LNAplus^TM antisense oligonucleotide discovery platform, as well as to develop highly specific, safe, and efficacious best-in-class antisense therapies for challenging or currently undruggable targets. With over 15 development programs focusing on targets in indications where antisense-based approaches have clear benefits over other therapeutic modalities, Secarna is the leading European antisense drug discovery and development company. www.secarna.com

CONTACT:

Alexander Gebauer
CEO
alexander.gebauer@secarna.com

Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG
Am Klopferspitz 19
82152 Planegg/Martinsried
Tel.: +49 (0)89 215 46 375

For media enquiries:

Anne Hennecke/Vera Lang
MC Services AG
secarna@mc-services.eu
Tel.: +49 (0)211.52 92 52 22