Falling Walls Circle Table: Innovation in Biotech in Europe and Germany

Lisa Melton is Nature Biotechnology’s Senior News Editor. She has a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Nutrition and Gut Immunology, from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. After moving to London to pursue her postdocs, she swapped lab work for storytelling, and published in The Economist, the New Scientist and Scientific American among others. Now as an editor, she still loves the science related to food and the gut, especially fermentation—it’s biotech after all!

Stefan Oelrich is a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of its Pharmaceuticals Division, a position he has held since November 2018. Prior to joining the company, he was on the Executive Committee of Sanofi, leading its global Diabetes & Cardiovascular business. During his seven-year tenure, he was also at the helm of Sanofi Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as the Diabetes and Cardiovascular business unit in Europe. From 1989 to 2011, Mr. Oelrich held various leadership positions in the health care business of Bayer AG with extensive international experience spanning Latin America (Argentina, Uruguay), Europe (France, Belgium) and the United States. Mr. Oelrich is a member of the Supervisory Board of the university hospital Charité, member of the Supervisory Board of the Berlin Institute of Health and member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany.

Head of Department “Digitization and Innovation”

Since April 2018, Dr. Gottfried Ludewig has been Head of the newly founded Department “Digitization and Innovation” at the German Federal Ministry of Health. In this role, he is responsible for legislative proposals such as the Digital Supply Act and the Patient Data Protection Act. These legislations initiated, among other things, electronic patient files, electronic law, the right of insured persons to be supplied with digital health applications (“apps on prescription”), and a comprehensive research data center. He also introduced the COVID warning app. Before that, he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives for six years, where he acted as spokesman for health policies and as Deputy Chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In addition to his parliamentary mandate, he worked part-time for PwC.

Amir is a managing partner in Polaris’ Boston office. He joined Polaris in 2002 and focuses on investments in healthcare.

Amir currently represents Polaris as a Director of AgBiome, CAMP4 Therapeutics, Dewpoint Therapeutics, Freenome, Metacrine Therapeutics, Morphic Therapeutic (NASDAQ: MORF), Scholar Rock (NASDAQ: SRRK), and Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SYRS).

Additionally, Amir has served as a director of Adnexus Therapeutics (Bristol Myers Squibb), Athenix Corporation (Bayer), Avila Therapeutics (Celgene), Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FATE), Living Proof (Unilever), Promedior Pharmaceuticals, Receptos (Celgene), Selecta Biosciences (NASDAQ: SELB), Sun Catalytix (Lockheed Martin), and TARIS Biomedical (J&J).

In addition to his investment role, Amir has served as the CEO of Dewpoint, Jnana, Living Proof, Olivo Labs, and Sun Catalytix. Amir also serves on the Partners Innovation Fund and the Investment Advisory Committee for The Engine at MIT, and helped launch the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund as its active president.

He has been named to the Forbes Midas List of “Top 100 Venture Capitalists.”

Prior to joining Polaris, Amir completed his ScD as a Hertz Fellow in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in Biology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. Amir also earned both his MS and BS in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.