Secarna Pharmaceuticals, an IZB-based next generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) company that addresses high unmet medical needs, recently appointed Konstantin Petropoulos, PhD, MBA as Chief Business Officer. Konstantin joined Alexander Gebauer, CEO; Frank Jaschinski, CSO; and Richard Klar, CRO, effective June 2023.

Konstantin brings strong industry experience and a solid track record of growing and expanding businesses. He has been responsible for major business development deals, including licensing / co-development agreements and strategic alliances, and has extensive knowledge of drug development as well as portfolio strategy development.

“Secarna offers a compelling and highly competitive approach to antisense drug discovery and development with an independent, next generation ASO platform. Together with its versatile business model, we provide a strong base to expand the Company’s value-creating partnerships as well as further develop internal programs in areas of great medical need,” said Konstantin Petropoulos, PhD, MBA. “I am looking forward to being part of the Secarna team, working to successfully accelerate our proprietary portfolio while expanding current partnerships.”

Before joining Secarna, Konstantin was CEO of AMW GmbH. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in business development as well as commercialization at several biotech and pharma companies, including Leukocare AG, Bayer AG and MorphoSys AG. He also currently serves as CEO of sterna Biologicals GmbH.

“We are excited to have Konstantin join Secarna at this essential point in the Company’s development,” commented Alexander Gebauer, MD, PhD, CEO of Secarna. “Our focus is to strategically develop our internal programs currently in advanced preclinical stages in the immune oncology and fibrotic/inflammatory disease spaces, either via external capital or via partnering. Konstantin has a proven success record in strategic and operative business development which will be invaluable to Secarna as we move into this next significant phase of growth.”

Secarna aims to leverage its proprietary ASO discovery platform, LNAplus™, to bring to patients in need novel, highly specific, safe and efficacious ASO therapies addressing a variety of targets deemed undruggable by current approaches. The Company has built a highly versatile and effective platform that encompasses all aspects of drug discovery and preclinical development, delivering high-quality candidates in a short period of time, making it a leading global player in the field.

Secarna strives to become the partner of choice for ASO drug discovery and development programmes and to form strategic partnerships that fully leverage its collaborators’ as well as its own strengths. The Company is well established with a solid financial position and an experienced management team that has a long and successful track record in drug development, corporate development and commercialization.