Board and Management

Board and Management

The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the strategy and organisation, as well as the management of operations. The Board appoints the CEO, who is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations in accordance with guidelines from the Board.

Board Management Therapeutic Area Heads

Board

Board

The Annexin Board of Directors is comprised of a number of experienced individuals that together have a wide range of expertise within various aspects of pharmaceutical development, such as investments, acquisitions, licensing, product launch, and marketing.

Uli Hacksell

Chairman of the Board since 2021

Born: 1950
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Uli Hacksell worked in the pharmaceutical industry and for biotechnology companies for 30 years. As CEO of San Diego-based ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (2000-2015), he led its development, from a private start-up company to a multi-billion-dollar public company, and also led the development of the first and only approved drug for psychosis in Parkinson’s patients. Since then, he has been CEO of Cerecor and Medivir. During the 1990s, Hacksell held senior positions within Astra’s R&D organisation, including as CEO of Astra Draco. Prior to that, he was a professor of organic chemistry at Uppsala University, where he also defended his thesis. He has published over 200 scientific articles.
Other assignments: Chairman of the board at Medivir and SynAct Pharma, and board member at InDex Pharmaceuticals Holding and Active Biotech.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management as well as in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: 100 000 shares

Carl-Fredrik Lindner

Member of the Board since 2017

Born: 1976
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Carl-Fredrik Lindner has a Master of Science from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He has a background in Corporate Finance and worked with a Venture Capital fund, investing in Life Science.
Other assignments: Investment Manager at Lionpeak AB, Stockholm, Sweden.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management as well as in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: 140 000 shares

Gisela Sitbon

Member of the Board since 2017

Born: 1958
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Gisela Sitbon holds a Doctorate in Medical Sciences from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and twenty-five years’ experience in the life science industry, over ten years in senior positions.
Other assignments: Chairman of the board at Nanologica AB, Emplicure AB, Gradientech AB as well as board member at Amplicon AB and Encare AB.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management as well as in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: 21 000 shares

Mårten Österlund

Member of the Board since 2021

Born: 1957
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Mårten Österlund has worked in the Swedish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as head of business development and a member of the management team at established companies such as KaroBio AB (now KaroPharma), Affibody AB, Meda AB (now Viatris) for a total of more than 30 years, he has solid experience and knowledge within the field of life science. Österlund has been actively involved in and carried out a number of licensing purchases and sales, as well as purchases of products and companies, for example Rottapharm (purchase price SEK 21.2 billion). He has a background as a chemist, has a PhD in molecular biology at Uppsala University, and has carried out research in neurobiology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
Other assignments: Board member at Pharma Way AB, Neobiomics AB and Unimedic Pharma Holding AB.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management as well as in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: No shares

Anthon Jahreskog

Member of the Board since 2022

Born: 1980
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Anthon Jahreskog holds a Master’s degree in Financial Management and has previously been Chief Operating Officer, Fund Linked Products, Credit Suisse Investment bank, London.
Other assignments: Board member at BioGaia AB (publ), Infant Bacterial Therapeutics (IBT) AB and Fast Track Holdings Ltd.

Independent in relation to Annexin and its management as well as in relation to the company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: 22 690 shares

Mikael von Euler

Member of the Board since 2023

Born: 1953
Nationality: Swedish

Education and professional experience: Mikael von Euler is a licensed physician with a PhD from Karolinska Institutet. Von Euler is a trained oncologist with more than 30 years of experience from the pharmaceutical industry. He was previously Senior Vice President and CMO of Aprea Therapeutics, CMO of KDevOncology, Akinion, Axelar and Oncos Therapeutics (now Targovax). He has held several senior positions within the global organization of large pharmaceutical companies, including Cluster Head of Roche/Genentech, Vice President of GlaxoSmithKline and Global Product Director of AstraZeneca.
Other assignments: Board member of Dicot AB.

Independent in relation to the Company and its management as well as in relation to the Company’s major shareholders.
Shareholding in the Company: No shares

Management

Management

The management team of Annexin Pharmaceuticals has a long experience within the area of research and development of pharmaceutical products; from preclinical stage to market authorisation application, including mergers, acquisitions and licensing.

Anders Haegerstrand

Chief Executive Officer

Born: 1961
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Board member 2018-2020, Chief Executive Officer since 2019

Education and professional experience: Anders Haegerstrand has extensive R&D experience including drug discovery and development as manager at Karolinska Institutet, Astra Pain Control AB and AstraZeneca LLC and within biotech. From year 2000, Anders was CEO and CSO for NeuroNova AB, a leading company in applied stem cell research that brought to protein molecules into Phase I/II clinical studies. The company was later acquired by a listed company, Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A., at which Anders was a management team member between 2013 and 2016.

Shareholding in the Company: 350 000 shares, 1 414 761 share option rights series 2020/2023 and 300 000 share option rights serie 2022/2025

 

Anna Frostegård

Chief Scientific and Medical Officer

Born: 1973
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Co-founder and inventor since 2014. Chief Scientific and Medical Officer since 2016.

Education and professional experience: Anna Frostegård, MD, PhD, Licensed Physician, is a globally educated Licensed Physician who earned her Doctor of Medicine degree summa cum laude and earned her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Experimental Medicine from Karolinska Institutet. She has served as an Assistant Professor at the Unit of Immunology and Chronic Disease and has more than 10 years’ experience in translating academic discoveries into the development of biological drugs. Anna is one of the inventors and co-founder of Annexin Pharmaceuticals and is an expert in Annexin A5, vascular inflammation and cardiovascular diseases.

Shareholdings in the Company: 2 873 296 shares indirectly through Frostskog AB and Medirista AB (which own 2 369 296 and 504 000 shares of Annexin respectively) and 150 000 share option rights serie 2022/2025

Susan Suchdev

Chief Operating Officer

Born: 1972
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Chief Operating Officer since 2018

Education and professional experience: Susan Suchdev has a M.Sc. from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Earlier she had the position as COO at Klaria Pharma and has previously had a long career with management roles in clinical development projects, including Pfizer, TFS Trial Form Support and Nestlé Health Science.

Shareholding in the Company: 69 055 shares and 150 000 share option rights serie 2022/2025.

Susanne Andersson

Chief Financial Officer

Born: 1971
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Chief Financial Officer since 2023

Education and professional experience: Susanne Andersson holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from College of Charleston, S.C. USA. She has long-standing experience as CFO with investor relations responsibility from a number of international listed companies in various industries, including Sedana Medical, Pricer, ChromoGenics and Nordic Mines as well as financial management positions, including investor relations at Ericsson within the telecom industry.

Shareholding in the Company: No shares.

Therapeutic Area Heads

Therapeutic Area Heads

Mario Fsadni

Therapeutic Area Head Ophthalmology

Position: Therapeutic Area Head Ophthalmology at Annexin since 2022

Education and professional experience: Mario Fsadni, MBChB, MRCOphth, MSc, LLM, FMH, obtained his Medical Degree and Ophthalmology training in Manchester, UK. He brings experience gained over several years of ophthalmic drug development. He was previously the Global Medical Director at Novartis Ophthalmics and Director Product Development (Ophthalmology) at Allergan, before starting a consultancy designed specifically for the development of pharmaceutical products for ophthalmic disorders. Mario has had an active part in projects spanning all sub-therapeutic areas in ophthalmology, sixteen of which have had successful global marketing approval.

Shareholdings in the Company: No shares. 200 000 share option rights serie 2022/2025.

Alain Thibault

Therapeutic Area Head Oncology

Position: Therapeutic Area Head Oncology since 2023

Education and professional experience: Alkain Thibault obtained his Medical Degree at McGill University Montreal, Canada and Board Certification in Oncology and Internal Medicine in the US. He has held management and specialist positions at Roche, J&J and Regeneron as well as Chief Medical Officer roles in biotech companies. Alain has as a medical oncologist extensive global experience leading novel compounds through clinical development.

Shareholdings in the Company: No shares