The new Age of CNS – latest trends and deals in Brain Health

Anna Exenberger, PhD

Anna is an Associate Principal in the Integrated Digital Health CoE embedded in IQVIA’s Commercial Strategy Consulting team, with a strong scientific background and proven track record of driving innovation in healthcare and life sciences. Anna focuses on opportunity identification and evaluation of innovative tools and technologies, with a particular interest in CNS. Prior to joining IQVIA, Anna completed a PhD in speech neuroscience, examining speech processing in the brain and changes associated with hearing impairment.

Nathanaëlle Cellier-Fontanges

Nathanaëlle Cellier-Fontanges has 18 years of life sciences consulting and industry experience, spearheads next-generation patient engagement offerings while contributing to neuroscience-driven initiatives. Brings expertise in translating advances in neurobiology and cognitive science into strategic solutions for pharmaceutical and biotech organizations.

Neuroscience Experience: Advises on strategies for neurological and neuropsychiatric portfolios, leveraging insights from brain health research, biomarkers, and emerging digital neurotechnologies to inform clinical development and market access.

Brain Mind Institute

Brian McCabe

Brian McCabe is the current Director of the EPFL Brain Mind Institute and the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Neural Genetics and Disease at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. Prior to joining EPFL, he received a PhD from the University of Cambridge, England, completed postdoctoral research at the University of California Berkeley, USA, and was a faculty member at Columbia University Medical School, USA. His laboratory investigates motor system function, aging, and neurodegenerative disorders. Brian is also co-founder of biotech companies Avrion Therapeutics and Juvion Health Sciences.

Paving the way towards new treatment paradigms in Alzheimer's and beyond - Breakthroughs in Diagnosis and Brain Delivery

Elisabeth Aloy

Elisabeth Aloy, PhD, is the Head of Strategy at Roche Diagnostics. She has a dual background as a neuroscientist and a business leader in strategy, accelerating portfolio development and maximizing commercial value. She also has nearly two decades of strategy consulting experience, serving as a strategy consulting partner at Monitor Deloitte and leading the CNS and Rare Disease EMEA consulting practice at IQVIA.

Roberto Villasenor

Roberto Villaseñor is a Principal Scientist in pRED, where he leads the Brain Delivery group within the Neuroscience discovery and translational area. Roberto obtained his PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, with a background in Cell Biology. In 2014, he joined Roche to work on the Brainshuttle™ platform where he pioneered the study of the cellular mechanisms for transport across the blood-brain barrier. He has since taken on roles of increasing responsibility in the areas of blood-brain barrier biology, ADME of biologics, human in vitro model systems, and Neuroscience drug discovery. Currently, he leads the cross-functional preclinical Brainshuttle platform in Neuroscience and champions the development of novel therapeutic agents to treat Alzheimer's disease.

Panel on Neuroscience Partnering

Beppe Cangelosi

Beppe Cangelosi is Head of New Products & Portfolio Strategy in Neuroscience at Takeda, where Beppe leads global strategy and portfolio development, including assessing business development and partnering opportunities across several disease area strategies. With a unique blend of experience spanning Takeda, Shire, and Amgen in senior commercial and strategic roles, and a foundation in management consulting at McKinsey, Beppe brings a broad, cross-functional perspective to partnering and innovation in neuroscience.

Celine Bouquet

Celine Bouquet is the BD Head of Neuroscience, Ophthalmology and Rare Diseases, Basel at Roche. Celine oversees the partnering transactions in these therapeutic areas and works closely with Roche’s internal research and development organization to identify opportunities that shape the Roche portfolio. She brings knowledge and experience from having led deals herself in various therapeutic areas while in Roche Pharma Partnering as well as her prior role, where she was overseeing portfolio prioritization, strategy setting and external alliances in the R&D organization from early discovery to Ph2. Celine joined Roche in 2012 and was heading the “Institut Roche”, dedicated to developing collaborative projects with academic partners to accelerate the transfer of basic research discoveries into innovative therapies in France. Prior to joining Roche, Celine gained experience and network across biotech, academia and tech transfer.An Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon fellow, Celine holds a PhD in neuroscience from University Paris 6 and did her postdoctoral training in neuro-ophthalmology at UCSF. 

Delphine Charvin

Delphine Charvin is CEO and co-founder of Elkedonia. A neuroscientist by training, she has held several CSO positions in start-ups, scale-ups, and pharma companies. She co-founded Prexton Therapeutics, later acquired by Lundbeck in a landmark $1 billion deal. Before founding Elkedonia, she was Operating Partner at Argobio, a start-up studio, where she identified the innovative project that became Argobio’s first spin-out. Under her leadership, Elkedonia successfully raised €11+ million in May this year.

Richard Porter

Richard Porter is the Chief Business and Scientific Officer of uniQure, a Nasdaq listed AAV gene therapy company . He oversees research as well as non-clinical and vector development, and is responsible for business development and product planning. Dr. Porter joined uniQure as General Manager of the Corlieve subsidiary following the acquisition of Corlieve Therapeutics in July 2021. He was the founder and CEO of Corlieve developing a miRNA based therapy for refractory temporal lobe epilepsy.

He brings more than 25 years of R&D experience to uniQure, having previously served as the COO of Therachon until its acquisition by Pfizer. Previously he was at Roche in positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as the Global Head of Scientific Business Strategy and Operations for Neuroscience Ophthalmology and Rare Diseases directing the strategic and operational activities of the department. He has also served as a Product General Manager of the Emerging Business Unit at Shire Pharmaceuticals and has held scientific leadership positions at Vernalis and ASTRA.

Richard earned his Ph.D. in neuropharmacology from Southampton University (UK) and conducted his postdoctoral training at the Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, NY (USA) and the University of Oxford (UK).

Yves Wyckmans

Yves Wyckmans is the Head of International Business Development and External Innovation at Biogen, based in Baar, Switzerland. Biogen is a global pharmaceutical company active in a variety of neuro and immuno (rare) disease areas.Yves is responsible for all global, ex-US international business deals and Biogen’s connections into the European VC network, together with the newly created venture team at Biogen in US.He joined Biogen this year after a long career with Johnson & Johnson (Tibotec, Janssen, Actelion) in which he lived and worked for extended periods in US and multiple countries across Europe. Before becoming active in BD, he worked in pharmaceutical development where he led 2 global development programs in infectious diseases through the clinical development stages & submissions into successfully obtaining marketing approvals worldwide. The last 10+ years he has been active in business development, in various therapeutic areas and he completed a wide array of BD transactions since.

Swiss HLG is excited to announce our inaugural Zug networking event "Navigating Pharma Growth and Capital in Zug” on October 23rd!

In collaboration with BU Bregal Unternehmerkapital and Helvion Pharma AG, we’re bringing together professionals from across the life sciences and investment sectors for an evening of connection and insight.

Location:
Bregal Unternehmerkapital (BU)
Landis-Gyr Strasse 3 · 6300 Zug (4th Floor)

Agenda:
17:00 Doors Open
Welcome & Introductions: Jean-Marc Séquier – Swiss HLG
Thomas W. Fuchs, MSc, MBA – Economic Promotion, Canton of Zug
Niklas Steffen – Bregal Unternehmerkapital (BU)
Felipe Florez-Arango – Helvion Pharma AG
Followed by a networking Apéro

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with peers and leaders in the life sciences and investment community.

Free for Swiss HLG members

ADCs in the Spotlight at Swiss HLG’s Romandie Networking Event
On the 25th September, we had the pleasure of hosting our annual Romandie networking event in partnership with Debiopharm, who welcomed us to their Lausanne headquarters.

The evening focused on the exciting world of antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) — a modality that’s rapidly transforming targeted therapies. Our speakers delivered powerful insights:
Bjoern M Hock presented Tubulis’ cutting-edge ADC technologies and portfolio.
Sophie Brachet & Ilona Kotala showcased Debiopharm’s innovative linker technologies and strategic pipeline development.
Filippo Mulinacci shared the inspiring journey of Araris, from academic roots to a >$1B preclinical-stage exit.
Peters Solange offered a deep dive into the lung cancer treatment landscape and the promise of ADCs in oncology.

The evening concluded with a relaxed happy hour, sparking great conversations and new connections.

Key takeaway: With advances in antibody engineering, multi-specific design, payload innovation, and linker technologies, ADCs are not just a trend — they’re here to stay.

Thank you to all who joined us and made the event a success!