Speakers – Swiss HLG Annual Conference 2025

Isabel Afonso

Isabel Afonso
CEO at Arcera Life Sciences

The Role of Business Development in Building Strategic and Resilient Portfolios

The life sciences and healthcare industries are undergoing rapid transformation, driven by scientific breakthroughs, technological advancements, and evolving patient expectations. Arcera, is committed to navigating these shifts, leveraging business development and M&A as accelerators for growth and resilience.
As chronic diseases become more prevalent, the demand for repurposed medicines and novel therapies continues to rise. Advancements in drug discovery such as AI-driven research and cell and gene therapies are reshaping the industry.
While every company’s journey is unique, certain foundational elements serve as guiding principles. At Arcera, we have applied all of them to ensure strategic clarity and scalable execution—a clear Purpose, Vision, Strategy, M&A and BD Strategy, all linked through a strategic ROADMAP that aligns with our VISION.
By embracing speed, collaboration, and agility, Arcera positions itself as a strategic partner in shaping the future of healthcare. Business Development is not just a function, it is a catalyst for success, ensuring that bold strategies translate into tangible impact for patients worldwide.

Bio

Isabel became CEO of Arcera Life Sciences in October 2023, leading an international life sciences company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with a commercial reach in over 90 countries and technical operations in seven. Arcera is owned by Abu Dhabi's ADQ sovereign fund.
Isabel has strong experience in business turnarounds across Private Equity (PE) owned company, large pharmaceutical corporation, and startups. Prior to Arcera, she led Novartis International’s $20B In- Market Brands portfolio and Business Innovation, based in Basel. Earlier, she served as General Manager for Novartis Oncology in China, a key market for the company.
Isabel's leadership experience spans roles such as Chief Commercial Officer at Performance Health (PE-owned), with a focus on the U.S. market and digital transformation, and as Head of Global Commercial Operations and member of the executive committee for Sandoz, a $10B Novartis division. Through 18 years with Novartis, she held leadership positions in IT, Sales and Marketing, and General Management, including Innovative Medicines, Generics & Biosimilars and Consumer Health.

Isabel holds a computer science engineering degree from Minho University, Portugal, and has completed INSEAD’s general management and IN-BOARD programs in Singapore and Paris. She has furthered her education with executive programs at IMD, Wharton, and Harvard Business Schools. Driven by lifelong learning, Isabel also completed Stanford's Genetics and Genomics certification in 2021 and a Neuroscience for Business course at MIT in 2024.

Philippe Beaupere Substipharm

Philippe Beaupere

Philippe Beaupere
Chief Corporate Development Officer at Substipharm

Bio
Philippe Beaupere joined Substipharm in 2016, bringing with him expertise in Business Development and M&A transactions. At Substipharm, he has helped transform the company from a pure B2B player into a fully-fledged Pharmaceutical Company, opening subsidiaries in the UK, Italy, Switzerland and Thailand, while also diversifying its portfolio and entering the vaccine arena with the setup of its Biologics division. Before that, Philippe was Vice-President Corporate Development at Biocodex from 2013 to 2016. From 2007 to 2013, he served in various Business Development positions in the UK working for Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Goldshield and Mercury Pharmaceuticals, before it’s merger to become AMCo.
Philippe is an avid paraglider and holds a PhD in Pharmacy from Paris University, alongside a business degree from HEC school of management in Paris.

Jeffrey Berkowitz Real Endpoints

Jeffrey Berkowitz

Jeffrey Berkowitz
CEO at Real Endpoints

Bio

Jeff Berkowitz is one of the rare executives whose career has spanned most key verticals in the global healthcare supply chain with executive committee and other senior roles at UnitedHealth Group, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Merck. He is a sought after thought leader and speaker on global market access issues.

Jeff is currently the CEO of Real Endpoints, a leader in providing insights, support and tools to strengthen access to pharmaceutical innovation for an evolving healthcare landscape with a concentrated focus on pricing and reimbursement, negotiations and value based arrangements, patient services and market access support for pharmaceutical manufacturers and payors.

Jeff also serves as a Senior Advisor to private equity firm, Permira.

In addition, Berkowitz serves on the board of directors of several publicly traded healthcare companies including Lundbeck A/S, and Zealand Pharmaceuticals and previously served on the boards of Esperion Therapeutics, Uniphar and Infinity Pharmaceuticals. He also serves as a Board member of the digital healthcare company, Click Therapeutics.

Berkowitz also serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Life Science Leader and Pharmaceutical Commerce magazines.

Prior to Real Endpoints, Jeff served as an Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group/Optum where he led Optum’s London-based International division, as CEO while also driving key strategic initiatives within Optum’s pharmacy benefits management division, OptumRx.

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group/Optum, Jeff was a member of the Executive Committee of the Walgreens Boots Alliance where he served as President of Pharma and Global Market Access based in Switzerland. Jeff also led Walgreens specialty pharmacy business with over $10 billion in revenue and 5,800 employees.

Before joining Walgreens, Jeff was senior vice president of global market access for Merck & Company, Inc.

Prior to transitioning to the commercial side of healthcare, Berkowitz spent a decade serving as health care attorney for the international law firm Proskauer, LLP in New York and other firms.

Juergen Eckhardt Bayer

Juergen Eckhardt

Juergen Eckhardt
Executive Vice President, Head of Pharma Business Development & Licensing, Head of Leaps by Bayer

Managing a portfolio of minority stakes – the view from venture capital

Portfolio management in biotech venture funds differs fundamentally from traditional pharma project portfolios. Financial venture funds like Ysios Capital make investments based on scientific risk, market potential, impact on patients and society, and exit opportunities. But as holder of minority stakes in portfolio companies, the way they influence, assess, and reallocate resources is different.
Corporate venture funds, such as Leaps by Bayer, integrate strategic fit into portfolio management, seeking options that complement their R&D pipeline while maintaining financial discipline. Guided by its "10 Leaps" framework, Leaps by Bayer targets breakthrough innovations in health and agriculture, focusing on impact creation and paradigm shifting platform technologies rather than financial KPIs, only.
Unlike pharma project management, which emphasizes internal resource optimization and long-term product development, Venture Capital’s portfolio management is externally facing, and driven by staged risk diversification across companies. Success metrics focus on value inflection points and strategic flexibility rather than product launches.

Bio
Juergen Eckhardt is EVP and Head of Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment arm, and Head of Business Development, Licensing (BDL) for the Pharmaceuticals division. He is a medical doctor and venture investor in healthcare, biotech, and agriculture with more than 20 years of experience. He is a strong believer that scientific breakthroughs can help us overcome some of humanity’s biggest challenges, including to cure and prevent chronic disease and to feed an ever-growing world population in a sustainable way – in short: science for a better life. He holds an MD from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Laura Jeanbart Molecular Partners

Laura Jeanbart

Laura Jeanbart
Director of Portfolio Management & Communications at Molecular Partners

Bio
Laura Jeanbart heads Portfolio Management at Molecular Partners (Zürich, Switzerland), where she oversees R&D portfolio and project reviews, prioritization, and resource planning thereby enabling decision-making and strategic planning at the portfolio and corporate level. Since 2023, Laura is also responsible for Corporate Communications at MP. Laura joined Molecular Partners as Project Leader in 2016, where she lead several immuno-oncology projects from early discovery to pre-clinical development, including multispecific T cell engagers. Prior to joining MP, Laura was a Fellow at Flagship Ventures (Cambridge, MA). Laura obtained her PhD at EPFL (Switzerland), where she developed nanoparticle-based cancer vaccines to modulate tumor-associated immunity. Laura graduated from Brown University and Yale University with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in biomedical engineering, respectively.

Konstantina Katcheves Teva Pharmaceuticals

Konstantina Katcheves

Konstantina Katcheves
Senior Vice President (SVP), Global Business Development for Innovative Medicines at Teva Pharmaceuticals

Bio
A seasoned dealmaker and enterprise leader, Konstantina brings more than 20 years of life sciences and pharmaceuticals experience with demonstrated success in international leadership, business strategy, intellectual property, and negotiation of international partnerships. At Teva, Konstantina is building and developing an innovative medicines business development team and strategy to help drive Teva’s Pivot to Growth. Her team focuses on partnerships in neuroscience, immunology and rare disease leveraging Teva’s development capabilities and commercial strength across the global to deliver more innovative medicines i.
Prior to joining Teva, Konstantina was Senior Vice President for business development at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and also interim head of Enterprise Strategy & BD leading BMS through a historic quarter of major and transformative transactions. Prior to that, she led BMS in collaborations at various stages across therapeutic areas, including early discovery partnerships, digital innovation, precision medicine and cell and gene therapy technologies, and regional business development for Japan and China.
As an leader in life sciences, Konstantina has a personal and professional interest in supporting women’s health initiatives and women’s success as a mentor to other females in science and healthcare
Konstantina has held leadership positions as both a lawyer and a BD leader, including Vice President of Intellectual Property & Licensing at Agilent Technologies and Vice President of Global Intellectual Property, Licensing and Strategic Alliance at Lonza.
Konstantina holds a Bachelor of Science in cell biology and biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego, a Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.

Frédéric Lévy Debiopharm International SA

Frédéric Lévy

Frédéric Lévy
Chief Scientific Officer at Debiopharm International SA

Unlocking Innovation: Exploring Creative Deal Structures to Secure a Robust In-Licensing Oncology Pipeline

Debiopharm's success is driven by external innovation, sourcing over 300 oncology assets annually from biotech firms and start-ups. Yet, the rise of AI-driven drug discovery and the limited number of druggable oncogenic targets have greatly intensified competition and led to target herding. Additionally, factors like market volatility and geopolitical shifts, which are hard to control, affect access to external innovation. To maintain a strong and steady portfolio, Debiopharm has developed several alternative strategies. Join Frédéric as he dives into the successes and challenges of these approaches during the presentation.

Bio
Dr Lévy obtained his doctorate at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and spent several years at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He moved then to Lausanne to take a leadership position in translational biology at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and a Professorship at the University of Lausanne. He joined Debiopharm in 2008. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer, Head of External & Internal Innovation.
External innovation is a key component of Debiopharm’s business model and is reflected by a yearly deal flow of more than 300 assets in oncology that are sourced from biotech and academic centers globally. Deal structures of selected assets are adapted to reach win-win outcomes between Debiopharm and its partners. Dr Lévy also oversees internal innovation, primarily based on Debiopharm’s proprietary linker-payload technology to produce antibody-drug conjugates.

Peter Louwagie Genmab A/S

Peter Louwagie

Peter Louwagie
SVP Corporate & Business Development at Genmab A/S

Bio
Peter has more than twenty years of experience in inbound and outbound transactions in the biopharma sector. He has acquired a deep understanding of the transaction environment in our industry. He is currently Senior Vice President Corporate & Business Development at Genmab, responsible for all the transactions that encompass discovery, clinical and commercial stage. Under his leadership, Genmab transacted its first M&A in its history in 2024. Prior to joining Genmab, Peter worked for more than a decade at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland as Head Transactions Immunology, Global Head BD&L Neuroscience, Deputy Head Global M&A, and BD&L Finance executing multiple transactions such as Novartis first RLT and gene-therapy acquisitions). He started his career in the biopharma sector in the M&A department of UCB SA in Brussels, Belgium.
He began his career at PwC (former Coopers & Lybrand) as Certified Public Auditor and Tax Consultant. Peter holds an engineering degree in Applied Economics with majors in Accountancy and Tax from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

Aitken Murray IQVIA

Aitken Murray

Aitken Murray
Executive Director at IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science

Reassessing the U.S. Landscape for Life Sciences: Implications for Deal-Making

The U.S. remains the most important market for life sciences companies and their products, and therefore casts a disproportionately large shadow over deal making. As a new administration brings change and uncertainty, and implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act continues, understanding the emerging contours of this market is important for all stakeholders. While certainty cannot be expected and scenario mapping essential, awareness of the potential implications for deal-makers is essential.
The presentation will recap the performance of the U.S. market for pharmaceuticals in 2024, lay out the key elements of the Inflation Reduction Act and other changes on the horizon, and describe the impact on health plans, providers, and manufacturers. Distinctions in impact on large vs. small molecules, orphan drugs, treatments for patients with obesity, and other key therapeutic areas will also be addressed.

Bio
Murray Aitken is a senior vice president of IQVIA, Executive Director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, and aVisiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
The IQVIA Institute undertakes independent research, drawing upon the resources of IQVIA, and focuses on the role of medicines in patient care, the disruptive impact of technology, productivity in research and development, and the value of information in improving decision-making.
Murray engages externally with a broad range of healthcare decision-makers in the public and private sectors globally, and reports by the Institute are widely cited by policy-makers, referenced in peer-reviewed research, and covered by the media.
He holds an MBA degree with distinction from Harvard University and a Master of Commerce degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Melanie Senior Commentator on the biopharma industry

Melanie Senior

Melanie Senior
Biopharma writer for Nature Biotechnology, Evaluate Pharma, IN VIVO

All change: why biopharma portfolio-builders should question their assumptions

There are few certainties in today’s fast-shifting landscape. The biopharma industry, and the wider environment, are changing fast. Within our sector, many biotechs now market their own drugs, Big Pharma are selling direct-to-consumer, and Chinese innovation threatens US dominance.
As politics up-ends the global order, investors' and dealmakers' “risk-off” approach may endure. Gene and cell therapies are out; re-purposed neurology medicines - and anything obesity-related - is in.
With change, however, comes opportunity. There are opportunities to innovate, but these require new assumptions about what ‘innovation’ means today. There are opportunities for Europe and European dealmakers, and for companies and leaders who remain firmly focused on added-value for patients and payers.

Bio
Melanie Senior is a renowned commentator on the biopharma industry, recognised internationally for her insights. She covers biopharma R&D, strategy and investment for the Nature portfolio, Evaluate Pharma and Citeline. Melanie also supports life sciences companies and associations with white papers and market positioning.
After starting her reporting career at the London Financial Times, Melanie became Bureau Chief, Europe, for Elsevier Business Intelligence (subsequently Informa). She worked on US reimbursement and pricing with Real Endpoints and was part of EY Life Sciences’ thought leadership team (2014-2017).
Melanie’s holds a First Class degree in Natural Sciences (biochemistry) from Cambridge University and post-graduate qualifications in Sports Physiology & Nutrition (St Mary’s University) and International Health Technology Assessment (University of Sheffield). She is a keen runner, cyclist and swimmer.

Marianne Späne Siegfried Holding AG

Marianne Späne

Marianne Späne
CBO EVP Member of the Executive Committee at Siegfried

How to strengthen the path to success – as a CDMO in a changing environment.

With the example of the history of Siegfried we will discuss how growth is possible above market expectation but also discuss what are the challenges and how to overcome hurdles and turn them into opportunities.
With more than 22 years experience with Siegfried and 30 years in the pharmaceutical environment I will elucide how sustainable is a growth strategy in an always faster changing market environment. What are aspects that need to be considered internally and externally and how both organic as well as inorganic growth needs to fit with the overall strategy. The decision of today will impact in a highly regulated world the success in 3 years.
How flexible a a longterm strategy needs to be in this changing environment?

Bio
In leading positions of the industry for more than 20 years, with a global network in the pharmaceutical and chemical environment as well as a profound understanding and extensive knowledge of the chemical and pharmaceutical market along the whole value chain.
Joined the Siegfried Group in 2004 responsible for the Pharmaceutical Business Unit between 2004 and 2008. Headed the Siegfried Pharmaceutical Division form 2008 and 2010 and appointed as Chief Business Officer as well as Member of the Global Strategy and Executive Committee in March 2010, led the execution of the transactions and implementation of Irvine sterile company (today 150 FTEs) in California.
She has a degree in finance, business administration, Marketing, Statistics, Business Analytics and Leadership., Member of the EFCG (European Chemicals Group) 2013 – 2019, Advisory Committee Member DCAT (Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association, Inc.) 2014 – 2016, Elected in 2019 as one of the Top 10 influence leader in the CDMO industry
In November 2023 graduated from International Board Certificate Program, IMP of the University of St. Gallen and HEC Lausanne, about International governance.

Kelvin Stott Amporin Pharmaceuticals AG

Kelvin Stott

Kelvin Stott
Founder & CEO at Amporin Pharmaceuticals AG

From Project to Portfolio: Building and Shaping a Product Pipeline

Bio
Kelvin Stott is a seasoned pharma R&D portfolio strategy executive, biotech CEO, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of diverse leadership experience in drug discovery, development, and portfolio management. Renowned for his visionary systems thinking and entrepreneurial drive, Kelvin has successfully established and led biotech ventures, including Amporin Pharmaceuticals AG, focused on innovative treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Previously, he spearheaded portfolio management functions at CSL Behring, Novartis and Merck Serono, designing advanced tools and processes that transformed strategic decision-making and resource allocation for multibillion-dollar R&D portfolios. A PhD graduate from the University of Cambridge and former McKinsey consultant, Kelvin combines deep scientific expertise with a strategic, collaborative approach. Passionate about innovation and R&D productivity, he inspires teams to challenge conventions and deliver impactful results in dynamic, fast-changing environments.

Sian Tanner IQVIA

Sian Tanner

Sian Tanner
Principal, Value and Payer Evidence Consulting at IQVIA

The new pan-EU HTA process: how Joint Clinical Assessments should feature in BD thinking

Pharma market access teams are abuzz with the arrival of the EU Health Technology Assessment Regulation earlier this year, bringing with it the largest change to the requirements for patient access in Europe since the first introduction of HTA. The new rules establish an additional, mandatory process in parallel to regulatory approval that centralizes the comparative clinical effectiveness assessment for new launches - the Joint Clinical Assessment (JCA).

What is the relevance of JCA to this audience? This session will outline the key impacts this regulation is having on health technology developers, from rising resource needs and higher evidence standards, to global knock-on impacts - and why this means the EU HTA should be systematically factored into both in- and out-licensing planning.

Bio
As Advisory Lead for IQVIA’s EU HTA Solutions team, Sian brings her 9 years of experience in global market access strategic consulting to this new and dynamic topic. Her current role focuses on leading tailored engagements with pharma clients preparing for EU HTA, from organisational readiness through to asset-specific JSC/JCA strategy planning and dossier development. IQVIA has worked extensively with industry, trade associations, and the HTA stakeholders involved in crafting the EU HTA regulation and is at the forefront of thought leadership in the space - with multiple publications, whitepapers and conference posters in recent years.

After her degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds, Sian worked in regulatory at Procter & Gamble on the OTC medicines portfolio prior to joining IQVIA in 2016.

Sarah Tomae

Sarah Thomae
Senior Legal Counsel R&D Transactions

Bio
Sarah Thomae is a senior corporate lawyer with over 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Sarah holds degrees from NYU, University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. She worked in private practice in Paris and New York prior to joining Novartis in 2006. At Novartis, Sarah has held different legal positions across a wide range of areas, including litigation, M&A and BD&L transactions, alliance management, technical operations, supply chain and contract manufacturing, patient safety as well as Research & Development. Her current practice focuses on transactions, and transformation projects in the area of pharmaceutical Research & Development, including the spin-off of Sandoz and several recent company acquisitions, divestments and asset integrations.

David Veitch Basilea Pharmaceutica

David Veitch

David Veitch
CEO at Basilea Pharmaceutica

Infectious Partnerships

Through personal experience gained in both Big Pharma and Biotech, i have observed certain factors that can either get in the way of a great partnership, or those that can really help generate a win:win relationship for both partners. To a large degree we apply these today at Basilea, but they might equally apply to other companies in other disease areas. From being a small Roche spin-off in 2000, I’ll be sharing how Basilea has grown into a profitable biotech company with products commercialized by Pfizer and Astellas, where deal making was a key component for its success and remains at the core of its activities.

Bio
David Veitch joined Basilea in 2014 as Chief Commercial Officer. Before that, from 2012 to 2013, he served as the president of European operations at Savient Pharmaceuticals. From 2007 to 2011, he served as senior vice president of European marketing & brand commercialization at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals. From 2004 to 2007, he was vice president & general manager UK at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this Mr. Veitch held various general management and commercial roles in Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals and prior to that commercial roles with SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.

David holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Bristol.

Karen Wagner Managing Partner at Ysios Capital

Karen Wagner

Karen Wagner
Managing Partner at Ysios Capital

Managing a portfolio of minority stakes – the view from venture capital

Portfolio management in biotech venture funds differs fundamentally from traditional pharma project portfolios. Financial venture funds like Ysios Capital make investments based on scientific risk, market potential, impact on patients and society, and exit opportunities. But as holder of minority stakes in portfolio companies, the way they influence, assess, and reallocate resources is different.
Corporate venture funds, such as Leaps by Bayer, integrate strategic fit into portfolio management, seeking options that complement their R&D pipeline while maintaining financial discipline. Guided by its "10 Leaps" framework, Leaps by Bayer targets breakthrough innovations in health and agriculture, focusing on impact creation and paradigm shifting platform technologies rather than financial KPIs, only.
Unlike pharma project management, which emphasizes internal resource optimization and long-term product development, Venture Capital’s portfolio management is externally facing, and driven by staged risk diversification across companies. Success metrics focus on value inflection points and strategic flexibility rather than product launches.

Bio
Karen Wagner is a senior executive and entrepreneur with 25 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Karen is Managing Partner at Ysios Capital and has a leading role in the investment team and the portfolio. Prior to joining Ysios in 2008, she was a Global Alliance Director for F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland. She joined Roche from GLYCART, a biotech company in the antibody engineering space, which was acquired by Roche in 2005. Previously she was a Consultant with McKinsey & Company’s Global Healthcare Practice. She serves on the Boards of Cytoki Pharma, Vivet Therapeutics, AELIX Therapeutics, Minoryx Therapeutics, Synendos and SparingVision and holds an observer seat at Xeltis. Formerly, she was Board Member at Xeltis, Cardoz, Kala Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALA), and Galecto (NASDQ:GLTO). She holds a master’s degree in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Cell Biology.

Conference Speakers