Michael is responsible for a team of 11 people and the overall delivery of the conducted studies. The group runs several studies in different indications with a clear focus on rare diseases. In 2016 AOP Orphan received approval for one new product (RAPIBLOC®). In 2019 AOP received the marketing authorization for their first biological (BESREMi®), after completing a series of clinical studies and successfully passing a series of EMA inspections under Michael’s responsibility.
Before joining AOP Orphan Michael has been operations manager for Haemophilia at Baxter. Michael has many years of experience as a project manager and learned the job in clinical research from scratch starting as CRA at Amgen. Michael received his Ph. D in biochemistry from the University of Vienna.
CEO Dr Michael-Robin Witt holds a Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from the Royal School of Pharmacy, Copenhagen, Denmark. He has published more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Following 12 years in academic research, at the Brain Research Institute, St. Hans Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark. MRW has held senior line and project management positions in Scandinavian Biotech companies including Neurosearch AB (1999-2000), AstraZeneca R&D (2000-2003), KaroBio AB (2003-2007). In 2007, MRW co-founded Axcentua Pharmaceuticals AB, acting as CSO for 5 years before joining Lead Discovery Malaysia in 2012 where he currently holds the positions of CEO & CSO. MRW joined Gabather AB in September 2014 and was appointed Principal Scientist in October 2015. He is currently CEO.
Dr Christine Natasha Ryan holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK and an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics. Following a post-doc at the Brain Research Institute, St. Hans Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark, CNR remained in Scandinavia moving to Sweden to work at Astra, which then became AstraZeneca, holding line management and competitive intelligence roles. CNR has engaged in preclinical research at blue chip companies such as AstraZeneca, smaller pharmaceutical companies, CROs and biotechs, working at Karo Bio AB, and Cerca Insights among others. CNR joined Gabather AB as Principal Scientist in 2017, becoming VP Operations in 2018.
Martine Zimmermann is Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs, R&D & Commercial Quality at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. Dr Zimmermann has over 25 years of combined R&D and global regulatory strategy experience. She joined Alexion in 2009 and has since then been dedicated to the registration of several orphan medicinal products across the globe, as well as to the shaping of the regulatory environment for medicines under development for rare diseases. Prior to Alexion, Dr Zimmermann held numerous R&D and regulatory roles in companies such as Aventis (now Sanofi), Servier and H. Lundbeck A/S. Dr Zimmermann also serves currently as a Director in the Board Inventiva Pharma. From 2019 to 2021 she served as a Director in the Board for CAELUM Bioscience. She received her PharmD from the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. Martine has been a champion of diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging, having been recognized by the Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association as a Luminary in 2020, and efforts by serving as an executive sponsor for Alexion’s flagship Women In Leadership (WIL) employee resource group.
