About
Immunic is a biotechnology company developing a clinical pipeline of orally administered, small molecule therapies for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
About Us
Immunic Therapeuctics
Immunic is developing three orally administered, small molecule programs: The company’s lead development program, vidofludimus calcium (IMU-838), currently in phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, selectively inhibits activated immune cells and shows combined anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and neuroprotective effects. Izumerogant (IMU-935) is a selective inverse agonist of RORγ/RORγt, which inhibits the IL-17 pathway, and is currently being studied in clinical proof-of-concept trials in psoriasis and castration-resistant prostate cancer. IMU-856 is targeted to restore intestinal barrier function and regenerate bowel epithelium, which would be applicable in numerous gastrointestinal diseases, such as celiac disease, where it is currently being evaluated in a clinical proof-of-concept trial.
Immunic, Inc. is headquartered in New York City. Its subsidiary, Immunic AG, is based in Gräfelfing near Munich, Germany, where the company’s research and development activities are conducted.
Immunic AG was founded in 2016 with headquarters in Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. Since April 2019, the company has been operating under the name Immunic, Inc. with its registered office in the United States and has been trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol ”IMUX.”
Management
Dr. Daniel Vitt
Chief Executive Officer,President and Director
Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., joined Immunic in January 2017, and subsequent to the company’s reverse takeover transaction with Vital Therapies in 2019, has served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Immunic, Inc. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Development Officer of 4SC AG, a publicly traded company based in Germany that he co-founded in 1997. While there, he successfully grew the company from the research stage into an advanced therapeutic development company with several clinical-stage product candidates in the pipeline.
Dr. Vitt studied chemistry in Siegen and Würzburg, Germany, and graduated from the University of Würzburg, where he focused on quantum-chemical calculations of organic reactions. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Würzburg, where he focused on molecular design of small molecule therapeutics.
Dr. Vitt is currently a member of the advisory board of the venture capital fund “Wachstumsfond Bayern 2,” managed by Bayern Kapital GmbH. In 2018, he also co-founded Brauhaus Germering GmbH, a local German specialty brewery.
President and Director
Dr. Hella Kohlhof
Chief Scientific OfficerHella Kohlhof, Ph.D., joined Immunic in January 2017 as Chief Scientific Officer, where she is responsible for the company’s scientific strategy, including mode of action studies, preclinical studies and biomarker development. Dr. Kohlhof also serves as Managing Director of Immunic’s research subsidiary, Immunic Research GmbH, Halle (Saale). She brings to Immunic a very strong scientific background in the immunology and oncology field and is experienced in drug development, preclinical and translational pharmacology.
In 2008, Dr. Kohlhof joined 4SC AG as scientific group leader and worked on preclinical and clinical stage projects, including IMU-838 and IMU-935. During this time, she held several positions, including Director of Development Projects, where she was responsible for the entire product development pipeline of 4SC.
Dr. Kohlhof studied biology in Aachen and Munich, Germany, and Gothenburg, Sweden. She received her doctorate in biology from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology and Tumor Genetics at the Helmholtz Centre in Munich, where she worked on normal and malignant B cell development, influenced by Notch and Epstein Barr Virus mediated signaling, and where she also performed her post doctorate work.
Dr. Kohlhof has been awarded several patents and is co-author of several scientific publications. She is a frequent guest speaker at scientific and industry conferences.
Dr. Andreas Muehler
Chief Medical OfficerAndreas Muehler, M.D., M.B.A., joined Immunic in August 2016. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the U.S. and European pharmaceutical industry, with an emphasis on preclinical and clinical development, business development and licensing, private equity, as well as medical affairs marketing.
From 2009 until joining Immunic, Dr. Muehler was an independent medical consultant, working on assignments in the U.S. and in Germany. During this time, he served in key interim leadership roles at a number of pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Earlier in his career, he served at the helm of several U.S. based companies. Specifically, Dr. Muehler was President and Chief Executive Officer of medical device company, MicroMRI, Inc., and President of medical device company, CAD Sciences, which he subsequently sold to iCAD Medical in 2006. Dr. Muehler also served as Chief Executive Officer and Vice President, Corporate Development at the biotech company Cellectar Inc. Before that, Dr. Muehler served in a number of key positions at the mid-sized, U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Berlex Laboratories, where his roles spanned preclinical and clinical development, business development, as well as licensing and marketing. Before joining the industry, Dr. Muehler focused on academic research at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Muehler received an M.D. from Humboldt-University (Charité) in Berlin, Germany, and an M.B.A. from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Muehler has served on the Board of Directors of multiple emerging medical technology companies, is the co-inventor of more than 25 patents and is the author or co-author of more than 90 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Patrick Walsh
Chief Business OfficerMr. Walsh joined Immunic from Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Business Development and completed an array of strategic transactions, including multiple partnerships, in-licenses, non-dilutive financings, and a merger. Mr. Walsh was previously in Corporate Development at AVEO Oncology, during which time he worked on all aspects of business development. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant to life science companies with Capgemini SE and was on the healthcare investment banking team at Leerink Partners (now SVB Leerink).
Mr. Walsh holds both an M.S. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and an MBA from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in biology and economics from Colby College.
Glenn Whaley, CPA
Chief Financial OfficerGlenn Whaley, CPA, joined Immunic as Principal Accounting Officer and Controller in December 2019. In April 2020, he was promoted to the position of Vice President Finance, Principal Financial and Accounting Officer. In March 2022, he was promoted to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Whaley brings to Immunic more than 30 years of experience in accounting and finance.
Prior to joining Immunic, from March 2015 until May 2019, Mr. Whaley held roles of increasing responsibility at specialty pharmaceuticals company, Pernix Therapeutics, most recently serving as Vice President of Finance. Previously, Mr. Whaley was Vice President of Finance for Alvogen, Inc, a global pharmaceutical company; Corporate Controller for ImClone Systems, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing biologic medicines in the area of oncology; and served in various, key financial roles in public accounting and in the pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries.
Mr. Whaley earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University Business School and is a Member of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Inderpal Singh
General CounselMr. Singh joined Immunic from Sandoz International GmbH, where he served as the Global Legal Head of Biopharma since January 2018. During his tenure at Sandoz and as a member of various leadership teams, he was responsible for all legal activities, including development, regulatory, and medical matters, as well as commercial operations, business development, alliance management and market access for biopharma. Before that, from 2015 through 2017, Mr. Singh served at Merck KGaA as Global Legal Head of Global Manufacturing and Supply and Regional Counsel of Middle East and Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States and Turkey. From 2013 to 2015, he was Legal Director (Europe) at Biogen Idec International GmbH. Earlier in his career, Mr. Singh spent 15 years in legal positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Deutschland GmbH and Pfizer Inc. (U.S.).
After earning his college degree in India, Mr. Singh qualified as an attorney with specialization in Corporate and Commercial Law at Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. He also completed two executive MBA programs at the University of Mannheim, Germany and INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France.
Dr. Duane Nash
Executive ChairmanDuane Nash, M.D., J.D., M.B.A, joined Immunic’s board as its chairman in 2019. From 2012 to 2019, Dr. Nash served in various leadership roles at Vital Therapies (Nasdaq: VTL), most recently as its Chief Executive Officer. Additional roles included Medical Director, Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer and President. Prior to joining Vital Therapies, Dr. Nash held various positions at Wedbush PacGrowth Life Sciences, an investment bank, where he was employed from 2009 to 2012, serving most recently as Senior Vice President in Equity Research. Before that, he was a research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities, an investment bank, which was acquired by Wedbush in 2009.
Dr. Nash also practiced as an attorney from 2002 to 2008, most recently at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he focused on intellectual property litigation and corporate matters. Dr. Nash served on the board of directors of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARPO) from 2012 to 2017, and Akebia Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKBA) from 2013 to 2018.
Dr. Nash earned a B.A. in biology from Williams College, an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School, a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of Oxford. Dr. Nash completed his internship in general surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Nash has been a member of Immunic’s Board since January 2019 and has served as Chairman of the board of directors since April 2019, and as Executive Chairman since April 2020.
Board of Directors
Dr. Duane Nash
Executive ChairmanDuane Nash, M.D., J.D., M.B.A, joined Immunic’s board as its chairman in 2019. From 2012 to 2019, Dr. Nash served in various leadership roles at Vital Therapies (Nasdaq: VTL), most recently as its Chief Executive Officer. Additional roles included Medical Director, Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer and President. Prior to joining Vital Therapies, Dr. Nash held various positions at Wedbush PacGrowth Life Sciences, an investment bank, where he was employed from 2009 to 2012, serving most recently as Senior Vice President in Equity Research. Before that, he was a research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities, an investment bank, which was acquired by Wedbush in 2009.
Dr. Nash also practiced as an attorney from 2002 to 2008, most recently at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he focused on intellectual property litigation and corporate matters. Dr. Nash served on the board of directors of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARPO) from 2012 to 2017, and Akebia Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKBA) from 2013 to 2018.
Dr. Nash earned a B.A. in biology from Williams College, an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School, a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of Oxford. Dr. Nash completed his internship in general surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Nash has been a member of Immunic’s Board since January 2019 and has served as Chairman of the board of directors since April 2019, and as Executive Chairman since April 2020.
Barclay “Buck” Phillips
Lead Independent DirectorBuck Phillips has served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Ribometrix, Inc., a discovery stage biotechnology company developing RNA-targeted small molecule therapeutics, since August 2020. Mr. Phillips brings 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry.
From 2008 to 2019, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for three separate Nasdaq listed, development stage biotechnology companies; G1 Therapeutics, Inc. (GTHX), Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) and Micromet, Inc. (acquired by Amgen in 2012 for $1.2B). In addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Phillips also held the title of SVP Corporate Development at G1 Therapeutics. During this tenure, Mr. Phillips was responsible for all finance and accounting functions, financing strategy (successfully raising over $1.4B), Wall Street and investor relations, public relations and corporate strategy, and corporate development.
Mr. Phillips also has extensive experience in life science venture and public market investing, having spent just under a decade as a Managing Director of Vector Fund Management, a late-stage life sciences venture capital fund with over $250 million in committed capital and approximately 30 venture investments in biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services companies. In addition, Mr. Phillips was Biotechnology Analyst and Director of Venture Investments for INVESCO Funds group, a no-load mutual fund family with a healthcare sector fund franchise totaling over $3.5 billion in assets under management.
Mr. Phillips has served on the boards of several public and private companies, including roles as Audit Chair and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance committees. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Mr. Phillips has been a member of Immunic’s Board since November 2019. He is chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee.
Dr. Daniel Vitt
Chief Executive Officer,President and Director
Daniel Vitt, Ph.D., joined Immunic in January 2017, and subsequent to the company’s reverse takeover transaction with Vital Therapies in 2019, has served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Immunic, Inc. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Development Officer of 4SC AG, a publicly traded company based in Germany that he co-founded in 1997. While there, he successfully grew the company from the research stage into an advanced therapeutic development company with several clinical-stage product candidates in the pipeline.
Dr. Vitt studied chemistry in Siegen and Würzburg, Germany, and graduated from the University of Würzburg, where he focused on quantum-chemical calculations of organic reactions. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Würzburg, where he focused on molecular design of small molecule therapeutics.
Dr. Vitt is currently a member of the advisory board of the venture capital fund “Wachstumsfond Bayern 2,” managed by Bayern Kapital GmbH. In 2018, he also co-founded Brauhaus Germering GmbH, a local German specialty brewery.
President and Director
Tamar Howson
Independent DirectorMs. Howson is currently an Independent Director at MEI Pharma, Inc. and Cue Biopharma, Inc. Earlier, she was a Senior Advisor on the transaction team at JSB-Partners, providing business development support to life sciences companies. Before that, she served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Business Development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior, Ms. Howson was Senior Vice President, Corporate and Business Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, responsible for worldwide oversight and management of the identification, evaluation and negotiation of mergers and acquisitions, licensing and other external alliance activities. Additionally, Ms. Howson spent nearly a decade at SmithKline Beecham, where she served as Senior Vice President and Director, Business Development and managed the company’s USD 100 million venture capital fund, SR One.
During her career, Ms. Howson has also served on the boards of companies including Organovo Holdings, Inc., Actavis Pharma, Inc., ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc., Enzymotec Ltd., Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., IPM-International Partnership for Microbicides and OXiGENE, Inc.
Ms. Howson earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology, a Master of Science in chemical engineering from the City College of New York and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
Ms. Howson has been a member of Immunic’s Board since October 2019. She is chairman of the Compensation Committee.
Dr. Jörg Neermann
Independent DirectorJörg Neermann, Ph.D., advises various biotech companies and a venture fund and serves on the boards of directors of several biotech companies. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the privately held German biotech company Curexsys GmbH, which he built from start-up to clinical readiness. Prior to this, he worked for more than fourteen years as a Partner at the life science-focused investment firm Life Sciences Partners (LSP). Prior to joining LSP, Dr. Neermann was Managing Director at DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, a venture capital and private equity division of Deutsche Bank, where he built and ran its healthcare investment franchise. Previously, he started his venture capital career with Atlas Venture as an associate and investment manager.
During his career, he led and completed more than 80 financing transactions and was intimately involved in more than 15 M&A transactions and IPOs with a total transaction volume exceeding a billion euros. Dr. Neermann has a strong scientific background and hands-on finance and investment expertise and has served on the boards of numerous private and public European biotech and life science companies. He is currently a non-executive director at the German biotech company Vivoryon Therapeutics N.V., and Idea AG, a private German company.
Dr. Neermann studied biotechnology at the Technical University of Brunswick, Germany, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biotechnology from the Technical University in Brunswick, Germany. He also studied economics at the Technical University in Brunswick, Germany, and at Harvard Business School.
Dr. Neermann has been a member of Immunic’s Board since April 2019. He is chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and serves on the Audit Committee.
Dr. Vincent Ossipow
Independent DirectorVincent Ossipow, Ph.D., CFA, is a Partner at the healthcare investment firm of Omega Funds and brings to the Immunic board 23 years of healthcare investment experience in public and private companies. He is member of the Board of Directors of several private and publicly traded life science companies.
Previously, Dr. Ossipow worked as a Partner for Private Equity at Sectoral Asset Management, one of the largest North American healthcare institutional investors. From 2000 to 2006, he was a research fellow at the University of Geneva where he studied the molecular basis of brain function, and acted as Sectoral Asset Management’s Chief Scientific Officer during this period. Previously, he worked at Pictet Bank as a research analyst for biotechnology equities and as a co-manager of the Pictet Biotech Fund, a biotech equities-listed investment vehicle.
Dr. Ossipow trained as a postdoctoral fellow (Hoffman-La-Roche and Human Frontier Science Program fellow) in Geneva and at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. He holds a master’s degree in computational sciences, a master’s degree in molecular biology, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology, all from the University of Geneva. Dr. Ossipow holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation from the CFA Institute. He also completed a Certificate in International Finance and Global Markets at the Georgetown University School of Business.
Dr. Ossipow’s work has been published in major journals. He also co-authored the book Monoclonal Antibodies, Methods in Molecular Biology, published in 2014.
Dr. Ossipow has been a member of Immunic’s Board since April 2019. He serves on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
Maria Törnsén
Independent DirectorMaria Törnsén is the former Chief Commercial Officer of Passage Bio, where she was responsible for leading and building out the company’s commercial organization and strategy, including determining product positioning and paths to commercialization. From 2019 to 2021, Ms. Törnsén served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sarepta Therapeutics’ U.S. Commercial organization, including market access, trade & distribution, reimbursement, sales, patient services and marketing. From 2017 to 2019, she was Vice President, Global Therapeutic Area Head of rare neurological, metabolic and endocrine diseases at Sanofi Genzyme, where she managed a $1.6 B portfolio with five marketed and three pipeline products, and was commercial lead on multiple alliances. From 2011 to 2017, Ms. Törnsén held advancing commercialization roles in the endocrine and rare diseases groups at Shire, rising to the role of Vice President, Head of Endocrine Rare Disease Sales, U.S. Commercial. Earlier in her career, she gained experience in global marketing and as a Product Specialist at Merck KGaA and Eli Lilly, respectively.
Ms. Törnsén earned a Master of Science (MSc) in International Business Administration from Lund University, Sweden.
Ms. Törnsén has been a member of Immunic’s Board since July 2022. She serves on the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee.
Scientific-Medical Advisory Board
Fred D. Lublin, M.D.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiDr. Lublin is a neuroimmunologist with a special interest in immune functions and abnormalities that affect the nervous system. He currently serves as the Saunders Family Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. As one of the world’s foremost experts on experimental therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS), Dr. Lublin transformed patient outcomes with pioneering studies of Interferon beta-1b before the drug received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1993 to treat the relapsing-remitting form of the disease. Over the years, his work has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) and the International Progressive MS Alliance, among other organizations.
Dr. Lublin has served on the Board of MS Hope for a Cure and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He also served as past Chairman of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (USA) advisory committee on clinical trials of new MS drugs and Chairman and National Board Member of the Clinical Advisory Committee of the New York City Chapter of the National MS Society. He has published numerous scientific articles and has served as a consultant to the NIH, as well as to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in all phases of drug development, including in preparation for drug presentation to the FDA and its advisory panels.
Dr. Lublin earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA and completed an externship at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Queen Square, London. He concluded his formal training in New York with an internal medicine internship at Bronx Municipal Hospital, Albert Einstein Medical Center, and a neurology residency at New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center. In 2018, Dr. Lublin received the Clifford H. Goldsmith Award for Outstanding Service and the June Halper Lifetime Achievement Award from the Consortium of MS Centers in recognition of his long-standing history of innovative research and commitment to excellence in caring for patients with MS.
Bruce E. Sands, M.D., M.S
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiDr. Sands is the Dr. Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Medicine and Chief, Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Sands was Medical Co-Director of the Crohn’s & Colitis Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he also served as the hospital’s Acting Chief of the Gastrointestinal Unit as well as Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
A longtime advocate for continued translational research in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, Dr. Sands is widely recognized for his innovative treatment of IBD and for his clinical investigations of new therapeutics. He was among the first to report the efficacy of infliximab, a drug used to treat autoimmune diseases in ulcerative colitis, a result later confirmed in large, multi-center randomized controlled trials.
Dr. Sands has served as the Chair of the Clinical Research Alliance of the Crohn’s Foundation of America, Chair of the Immunology, Microbiology and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Section of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and Chair of the International Organization for the Study of IBD. He is an AGA fellow (AGAF) and a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG). His work has appeared in several leading peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, for which he is also a reviewer, Gastroenterology and Gut. He served as an Associate Editor for the leading journal, Gastroenterology, from 2011 to 2016.
Dr. Sands received his medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine, MA and completed a residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He completed his clinical and research fellowships at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Sands also holds a Master of Science in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health.
Paul J. Utz, M.D.
Stanford University School of MedicineDr. Utz is an expert in the study of human and murine autoantibodies and autoantigens, apoptosis signaling pathways, animal models of autoimmunity, proteomics and multiplexed assay development for biomarker discovery. He is currently Professor of Medicine – Immunology & Rheumatology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he directs a lab focused on the normal immune system and how it differs with the immune system of patients with immunodeficiency disorders, infections, and autoimmune diseases. Among the autoimmune diseases being studied are systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS and IBD. In addition to trying to better understand the pathogenic mechanisms involved in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, the lab is interested in developing bench-to-bedside technologies, including diagnostics and therapeutics, for human immune diseases.
In addition to his research, Dr. Utz has been an innovator in medical student education. He is the Stanford Associate Dean for Medical Student Research, focused on promoting physician investigator development across the physician-scientist career continuum, and is founder of the Stanford Institutes of Medical Research (SIMR), one of the country’s largest and most respected immersive high school research programs. He also serves as the Emeritus Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Stanford.
Dr. Utz has won numerous faculty teaching awards for his work in the Department of Medicine and Immunology Interdepartmental Ph.D. Program at Stanford, and elsewhere. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and has co-founded three Bay Area companies.
Dr. Utz earned his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency, rheumatology fellowship, and post-doctoral training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston prior to joining the Harvard Medical School Faculty.
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