VALANX Biotech (VALANX), a biotech company developing novel antibody-drug-conjugate (ADC) assets enabled by its GoldenSite™ site-specific protein conjugation technology, today announced the formation of its Board of Directors.
The Board will support the company’s strategic direction, financial oversight and risk management as VALANX advances from a research-stage organization into clinical development and technology commercialization.
The new Board brings together senior leaders from global commercialization, strategy, and business development. Their combined experience is expected to strengthen VALANX’ progress towards clinical application of its next-generation antibody drug conjugates.
Michael Boehler, MD, joins as Chairman of the Board. With more than 20 years’ global industry experience, he has led key commercialization efforts, including as Vice President Global Commercial and General Manager at BioNTech, where he helped drive the company’s evolution from a clinical-stage biotech to a global market leader through the launch of the first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. He previously held senior roles at Takeda, Kite Pharma and Amgen, with a strong focus on oncology. Michael currently serves as Chief Business Officer and Director at clock.bio and advises early-stage biotech and techbio ventures.
Dr. Alexander Schwartz joins as Director, bringing more than 15 years of experience in strategy, innovation, and business development across the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. A former McKinsey consultant, he is currently a partner at Xista Science Ventures, supporting and investing in life-science and deep-tech companies. He holds a PhD in chemistry, was a research fellow at ETH Zurich, and completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University.
Dr. Urs Spitz is a scientist, entrepreneur, and investor with nearly 30 years of experience founding, leading, and scaling life science companies. As the CEO and co-owner of Biosynth he transformed the business from a small business into a global supplier of critical pharma and diagnostic raw materials. Urs has co-founded several companies, served on multiple boards, and co-authored numerous patents and publications. He now focuses on building and investing in innovative ventures across the life sciences.
Ingo S. Nagler, seasoned biotech executive and investor as well as co-owner of VALANX, joins as Director. He is invested in several biotechnology companies, including Ribbon Biolabs, Ahead:bio and Phoenestra, among others. As a Business Development Officer of BIA Separations (acquired by Sartorius), he contributed significantly to introducing CIM monolith chromatography to the market and supported the company’s international expansion. During his tenure, BIA Separations’ platforms became highly relevant for the manufacturing in clinical and commercial settings in the gene therapy sector.
“Over the past months, we’ve taken important steps towards developing our novel antibody-drug conjugates. Our GoldenSite technology has matured significantly, and with it our ability to generate potentially safer and more precise therapeutic conjugates,” said Michael Lukesch, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at VALANX Biotech. “Establishing the Board is an important next step as we move toward clinical development. I am excited to work with such an experienced team to drive VALANX’ vision forward.”
Michael Boehler, Chairman of the Board, added: “VALANX’ approach to next-generation ADCs using a technology that unlocks a larger design space for these therapies, has the potential to address a real and urgent medical need. I’m thrilled to support the team together with my fellow board members as the company advances its platform and pipeline. Our shared goal is to help VALANX develop safe, efficacious and differentiated antibody drug conjugates that make a meaningful difference for patients.”