WUPPERTAL, Germany, June 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Dr. Manickam Rangaraju joined AiCuris as Head of Development / Dr. Alexander Birkmann named as Head of Research
A few weeks after Dr. Holger Zimmermann had taken over the CEO position from Prof. Dr. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff, AiCuris, the Anti-infective specialist based in Wuppertal, Germany further strengthened its management.
Dr. Manickam Rangaraju joined AiCuris on 1st May 2015 as new Head of Development, responsible for all preclinical and clinical activities of the company. Already one month before Dr. Alexander Birkmann had taken over the position as Head of Research, being responsible for the virological and bacteriological research activities.
Dr. Manickam Rangaraju is a medical doctor and has long standing experience in the anti-infective field. He has more than 40 years of management experience in R&D and clinical practice. Prior to joining AiCuris he was responsible for the clinical development of anti-infectives in Swiss based Polyphor, served as Therapeutic Head at Actelion and as Head of Clinical Development at Novexel. Most of his life in pharmaceutical development he had been with Hoechst / Aventis which he left in 2004. Manickam Rangaraju is familiar with AiCuris as he served as its CMO already in 2009.
Dr. Alexander Birkmann made his PhD in molecular virology. He is with AiCuris from the beginning - the spin-out from Bayer in 2006. As Project Director he has been responsible for AiCuris' herpes simplex virus project which meanwhile finalized clinical Phase 2. Before this time he worked at Bayer since 2002 as Laboratory Head in the Virology research department. Dr. Alexander Birkmann is now taking over the responsibilities for all research activities of AiCuris from Dr. Holger Zimmermann.
"We're very pleased to have both Dr. Rangaraju and Dr. Birkmann now in our Management Team. With their extensive and long standing experiences they support our plans to develop our promising pipeline in virology and bacteriology further on and strengthen our management capacities", AiCuris' CEO, Dr. Holger Zimmermann commented.
About AiCuris: AiCuris was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Bayer and focuses on the discovery and development of drugs against infectious diseases. Majority investor is Athos (the family office of the Dres. Strüngmann). The company is generating drugs against viruses such as human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), hepatitis B (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). With respect to bacteria, AiCuris is concentrating on the search for innovative treatment options against the very much feared (multi)resistant nosocomial pathogens. AiCuris has signed a license agreement with Merck (MSD), which attracted significant attention being one of the largest agreements of this kind in the European biotech industry. It covers novel drug candidates against HCMV. Letermovir, the most advanced compound, is currently in Phase III clinical testing in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation.
Photos of Dr. Rangaraju and Dr. Birkmann can be downloaded from our website http://www.aicuris.com
Contact:
AiCuris GmbH & Co. KG
Katja Woestenhemke
Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 475/Geb. 302
42117 Wuppertal
Phone +49-202-317-63-0
Fax +49-202-317-63-1177
E-Mail press@aicuris.com
Web http://www.aicuris.com
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