Board of Directors

Viktor Drvota
Viktor Drvota
Chairman

Born 1965. Chairman since 2019 and board member since 2016.

Education: Viktor has an M.D, a Ph.D.  and an Associate Professor degree from Karolinska Institutet.

Experience: Viktor has over 19 years of venture capital experience focused on life science with several investments, significant fundraisings, exits and IPOs. He was responsible for Life science at SEB Venture Capital during the years 2002-2016. During his appointment at SEB Venture Capital he also served as a board member in several biotech and medtech companies. Prior to this, Viktor worked as Associate Professor and senior consultant at Karolinska Institution/hospital in Huddinge. He also has significant experience from pre-clinical and clinical research within different biotech and medtech companies.

Other current assignments: CEO and board member of KCIF Fund Management AB. Chairman of the board of Modus Therapeutics AB and Modus Therapeutics Holding AB. CEO of Karolinska Development AB. Board member of Foendo Oy, Dilafor AB, Dilafor Incentive AB, OssDsign AB and KDev Investments AB. Deputy board member of Promimic AB and Svenska Vaccinfabriken Produktionen AB.

Holdings in the Company: –

Independent in relation to the Company and its management but not independent in relation to major shareholders.

Anders Bladh
Anders Bladh
Non-executive Director

Born 1958. Board member since May 2024

 Education: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics, University of Uppsala

 Experience: Anders has a broad experience from the financial world. He spent ten years at Handelsbankens international division,then built up and lead real estate companies in the Netherlands, before setting up Intervalor, a leading Nordic company in marketing financial products, where he was CEO for thirty years.

Anders is now owner and board member of Intervalor AB (Chair), Ribbskottet AB and Rimturs AB, as well as board member of listed companies DistIT AB (Chair) and Xspray Pharma AB. Ribbskottet is a key investor in some ten listed and non-listed fintech and healthcare companies.

 Holdings in the company: 120.000 shares and further convertibles and warrants via Ribbskottet AB.

 Independent in relation to the Company and its management, but not in relation to major shareholders (Ribbskottet AB).

 

Torbjörn Bäckström
Torbjörn Bäckström
Founder & Non-executive Director

Born 1948. Board member since 2006.

Education: Torbjörn has an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Umeå University.

Experience: Torbjörn is currently professor at the Department of Clinical Science, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Umeå University. He is also head of the Umeå Neurosteroid Research Center. Professor Bäckström’s main focus of research since 1972 is the effect of sex and stress hormones on the brain and conditions induced by these hormones, he has more than 400 scientific publications within this area and he is a frequently invited key-note speaker at scientific meetings around the world.

Other current assignments: Chairman of the board and CEO of Umecrine AB. Board member of MetaCurUm Biotech AB, Diamyd Medical AB, and Mobatoba AB. Partner in Hormon Konsult Handelsbolag.

Holdings in the company: Torbjörn Bäckström holds 71,427 shares and further convertibles and warrants in the company. Furthermore, indirect holdings (through Mobatoba AB) correspondingly to 51 per cent of the shares in Umecrine AB which owns 892,156 shares in the Company.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management and in relation to major shareholders.

Bruce F. Scharschmidt
Bruce F. Scharschmidt
Non-executive Director

Born 1946. Board member since 2016.

Education: Bruce holds a Bachelor of Medical Sciences from the Northwestern University and an M.D. from Northwestern University – Feinberg School of Medicine.

Experience: Bruce has held senior management positions at Chiron, Novartis and most recently Hyperion Therapeutics, where he was Chief Medical and Development Officer. Prior to joining the industry, Bruce was Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology at the University of California, San Francisco, and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has authored over 200 research and review articles and is inventor on multiple issued and pending patents.

Other current assignments: In addition to Umcrine Cognition, Bruce is a consultant to Ocelot Bio, Poseida Therapeutics (PSTX) and Venrock Capital.

Holdings in the company: Bruce F. Scharschmidt has an indirect holding of 132,725 shares through The Bruce Frederick Scharschmidt and Peggy Sue Crawford Family Trust Dated October 9, 2021.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management and in relation to major shareholders.

Thomas P. Blackburn
Thomas P. Blackburn
Non-executive Director

Born 1949. Board member since 2017.

Education: Thomas holds a Master of Philosophy from Nottingham University, and a Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of Manchester.

Experience: Thomas brings more than 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, where he has held senior management positions at major pharmaceuticals, such as ICI, Beecham/SmithKline Beecham, and biotech companies such as Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corporation and Helicon Therapeutics, and previously served as a board member of Motac Neurosciences Ltd. He is President Emeritus of the British Pharmacological Society and Business Advisor for Phyzat Biopharmaceuticals. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is currently Reviews Editor for the British Journal of Pharmacology, as well as the inventor/co-inventor on 22 patents.

Other current assignments: CEO of TPBioVentures LCC/Ltd.

Holdings in the company: –

Independent in relation to the Company and its management and in relation to major shareholders.

John Öhd
John Öhd
Non-executive Director

Born 1971. Board member since 2020.

Education: John has an M.D. from Linköping University and a Ph.D. from Lund University.

Experience: John has broad knowledge and experience of drug development in several therapeutic areas, including CNS, cancer and blood disorders. He has held leadership roles within the research organizations of AstraZeneca, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Medivir. Before joining Karolinska Development he was the Chief Medical Officer of Modus Therapeutics. Prior to his drug development roles, John held various research and clinical positions at Lund University and Karolinska Institutet/University Hospital.

Other current assignments: CEO and board member of Modus Therapeutics AB. CSO of Karolinska Development AB. Board member of Svenska Vaccinfabriken AB.

Holdings in the company: –

Independent in relation to the Company and its management but not independent in relation to major shareholders.