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About Us

We’re developing Sepranolone, the endogenous compound that regulates and inhibits the negative effects of Allopregnanolone, a potent neurosteroid implicated in a wide range of stress- and compulsivity-related disorders from Tourette syndrome to Obsessive-compulsive Disorder.  

About Asarina Pharma
Management
Board
Scientific Advisory Board
Team

ABOUT ASARINA PHARMA

The powerful neurosteroid Allopregnanolone is implicated in a wide range of stress- and compulsion-related conditions from Tourette to OCD, PTSD, compulsive gambling, addiction—and more.​

Our novel treatment Sepranolone is the endogenous compound that inhibits and modulates ALLO. It is the first of a new family of GAMSA compounds (GABAA Modulating Steroid Antagonists). GAMSAs target the powerful neurosteroids that act on the brain’s GABAA receptors. GAMSAs represent a new paradigm shift in the treatment of still widely untreated stress- and compulsion-related conditions.

Management

With rich business and medical expertise, the Asarina Pharma team is united by its vision of bringing a new family of safe, natural, effective compounds—GAMSAs—to market for the treatment of a wide range of stress- and compulsion-related conditions.

Asarina Pharma is a lean and efficient organization with a seasoned management team with extensive pre-clinical, clinical development, project management and market experience. The team is supervised by a board comprising experienced individuals from the pharmaceutical industry and venture capital field.

Peter Nordkild
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Medical Officer (CEO since January 2016)

MD, with 20 years of experience from pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Asarina, Peter spent 10 years in biotechnology as CEO of Nasdaq listed Egalet and as serial Danish biotech entrepreneur. Founder or co-founder of ARTS Biologics in fertility treatment; Adenium Biotech in antimicrobial peptides and multi resistant bacteria and Defensin Therapeutics in microbiota modulating defensins.

SHAREHOLDING: 263,124 shares, and 6,152,674 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 246,106 new shares.

Jakob Dynnes Hansen
Chief Financial Officer (CFO since April 2017)

Jakob has 30 years of combined experience from biotech and financing. Prior to joining Asarina, he was the CFO for more than 9 years at Evolva, a Swiss public biotech company. At Evolva, he played a key role in the company’s listing in 2009 and several subsequent financings. Previously, he was CFO at Danish biotech companies, Nuevolution and Zealand Pharma. Before moving into biotech, Mr Hansen was a senior member of the Corporate Finance Team at Unibank (now Nordea) and he has been Head of Market Research at Novo Nordisk. Jakob has an MSc in Economics from University of Copenhagen and an MBA from INSEAD.

SHAREHOLDING: No shares, 1,538,168 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 61,526 new shares.

Sven Göthe
Director CMC (Director since October 2018)

With a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry and Polymer Technology, Sven Göthe has more than 30 years’ experience of product development, project management, manufacturing and commercialization of development projects. For more than 20 years, Sven has run his own commercialization consultancy, acting as senior expert of upscaling production for many innovative pharma and life science companies. He has held different positions at Pharmacia & Upjohn and Fresenius Kabi AB.

SHAREHOLDING: 10,000 shares and 61,000 warrants which give the right to subscribe 61,000 shares, held privately and through related parties.

Karin Ekberg
Senior Consultant 

PhD, has previous experience from clinical and pre-clinical project management within biotech companies active in the areas of diabetes and cognitive impairment. Moreover, Karin has some 20 years of experience in human experimental and clinical scientific work at the Karolinska Institute and she has authored/co-authored more than 70 scientific publications, mainly within the area of physiology, endocrinology and metabolism.

SHAREHOLDING: 5,000 shares, held privately and through related parties. 2,050,891 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 82,035 new shares.

Otto Skolling
Chief Business Officer (CBO since October 2018, 2011 -2015 and 2017 – 2018 board member)

MSc in Chemistry, has 20 years of broad-based pharmaceutical and med tech. industry experience, including product development, business development and project management gained through management positions at Novozymes, Siemens Life Support Systems and Pharmacia & Upjohn.Otto presently serves as a director of the board in Nanexa AB, Lipidor AB and Athera Biotechnologies AB and has served as a chairman or director of the board in several Scandinavian Life science companies.

SHAREHOLDING: 25,000 shares held privately and through another company. 1,538,168 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 61,526 new shares.

BOARD

Asarina Pharma’s Board of Directors is an international team with decades of combined experience in pharmaceutical development and commercialization. The Board comprises extensive international strategic and scientific experience of executives from four countries, reflecting the global potential of Sepranolone, and Asarina Pharma’s new GAMSA family of therapies.

Paul de Potocki Chairman of the board since 2018
Paul de Potocki has more than 25 years of experience in international corporate leadership, commercial operations, business & corporate development and financial management in both public and private life sciences companies. He is a former President and Chief Executive Officer of public companies Diagenic and Aerocrine. He currently serves as board member for Palette Life Sciences and as CEO of OncoZenge AB. Mr. de Potocki has also served as Global Vice President of Commercial Operations at Biovitrum, FreseniusKabi and Pharmacia & Upjohn. He holds an MSc from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and an MBA from the London School of Economics.

SHAREHOLDING: 2,050,891 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 82,095 new shares.

Independent in relation to the Company and Company Management as well as independent in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.

Erin Gainer Director of the Board since 2020
Erin Gainer is a global leader and strategist in women’s health pharmaceuticals. She is Chair of the Board of HRA Pharma and was CEO for 16 years, where she led the development and launch of an extensive portfolio of innovative women’s health products, including the company’s flagship emergency contraceptive products ellaOne® and NorLevo®. A graduate from Rice University and John Hopkins School of Public Health, Erin Gainer has a PHD from Paris-Sud University and an EMBA from INSEAD. She is the founder of the Ella Fund, which empowers girls and women globally by funding innovative healthcare, education and entrepreneurship initiatives worldwide.

SHAREHOLDING: 41,000 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 41,000 new shares

Independent in relation to the Company and Company Management as well as independent in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.

Marianne Kock Director of the Board since 2018
Marianne is Managing Director at Ferring Pharmaceuticals Denmark, she is also SVP for Global Regulatory Affairs. She has extensive experience in R&D, clinical development, regulatory affairs and pharma development. Marianne is a Master of Science in pharmacy, from Danmarks Farmaceutiske Universitet and she holds an executive MBA. Before joining Ferring in 2002, she was Vice President at Novo Nordisk.

SHAREHOLDING: 3,000 shares. 1,025,445 warrants which give the right to subscribe to 41,017 new shares..

Independent in relation to the Company and Company Management as well as independent in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

From obstetrics and gynaecology to neurology and pharmacology—our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is made up of recognized authorities from all the fields that intersect in menstrual-related disorders.

Every member of our SAB has advanced their field significantly over the course of decades of often award-winning work. Together, they provide Asarina Pharma with world-class support and guidance on every aspect of its research, technology and treatments.

Torbjörn Bäckström Chairman

MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Umecrine AB, is 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.

Marco Bortolato Scientific board member
Marco Bortolato is currently Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Utah. He is a recognised authority on neurodevelopmental disorders. He received his M.D. degree in 2000 from the University of Cagliari, Italy, and gained his Doctorate in Pharmacology there in 2004. Marco Bortolato’s key area of scientific interest is the interaction between lipid mediators (including neuroactive steroids and endocannabinoids) and key brain neurotransmitters. The long-term goal of this research is the development of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of pathological aggression, autism-spectrum disorder, Tourette syndrome, schizophrenia and impulse-control disorders (such as pathological gambling).

C. Neill Epperson, M.D. Scientific board member
Dr. Neill Epperson is Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine where she is also the Founder and Director of the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness. The Center’s mission is to improve women’s health through greater understanding of the impact of hormones and gender on common medical conditions. Dr Epperson also directs the cross-university center, Penn PROMOTES Research on Sex and Gender in Health and Penn’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) K12 program. Dr. Epperson received her M.D. degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her postdoctoral and research training in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine where she was Associate Professor of Psychiatry before joining Penn in the fall of 2009.

Marie Bixo Scientific board member
Marie Bixo is a Professor and Consultant Physician at the Department of Clinical Science, Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit, Umeå University, Sweden. Awards for her work in the field include the 2009 OGU Prize from the Swedish Association for Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Prof Bixo received her M.D. degree in 1984 and her Doctorate in Medicine in 1987, both from Umeå University. She became a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1993, after training at Mölndal Hospital. 1995. In 2011 she was employed at Umeå University, first as Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor and then as Professor. In 2012 she became a professor at Karolinska Institute, returning to Umeå University as Professor of Obstetrics and Gyneacology in 2014. She is interviewed regularly as a trusted authority on menstrual issues in Swedish and Scandinavian media.

TEAM

Magnus Brisander, PhD
Principal Scientist

magnus.brisander@asarinapharma.com

 

Anette Wärnmark, MSE, PhD
Project Manager

anette.warnmark@asarinapharma.com

Mark DuBois
Communications Manager

mark.dubois@asarinapharma.com

Dorte Dannemann
Executive Assistant

dorte.dannemann@asarinapharma.com