Kurt is a seasoned healthcare executive with extensive industry experience and track record in the area of biopharmaceutical R&D strategy and operational management.
He joined NDA in April 2020, when he took over leadership of NDA’s advisory board. In this role, Kurt sets the strategy to further develop capabilities and activities of NDA’s advisory services. Under Kurt’s leadership in the industry, numerous projects have advanced from early discovery to late clinical development, for submission and regulatory approval. In charge as global therapeutic area head in the industry, he succeeded in advancing several innovative medicines from research to the global market, as a result of internal research, or in collaboration with innovative biotech partners.
Kurt brings extensive business acumen and relevant accomplishments, ranging from pre-clinical, clinical stages to the submission and approval of assets; he is familiar with scientific, medical, ethical, technical, regulatory and commercial success factors in life sciences.
Key Areas Of Expertise
- In-depth reviews and evaluations of project portfolios on innovative medicines
- Development strategies in support of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, and vaccines. Precision medicine strategies in oncology and immune-mediated diseases, including biomarker strategies and advanced digital platforms to inform clinical decision-making and expedite drug development, based on patient-derived multi-omics data
- Design and engineering of biotherapeutics modalities incl. antibodies, scaffolds, protein factors, nucleic acids, and advanced therapy medicinal products (cell &gene therapy)
- Biopharmaceutical development: process sciences, technology transfer projects for large scale manufacturing and preparation of pre-approval inspections of biologics production sites.
Before Joining The NDA Advisory Board
Kurt has been the President and global CSO, as well as CEO of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals S.A. (Switzerland), based in Lausanne and Neuchâtel (2016-2020)
Between 2012-2016 he assumed accountability of SANOFI’s Global Biotherapeutics Division, responsible for biopharmaceutical development (up until Ph3 transfer) of SANOFI’s biologics portfolio across all therapeutic areas, based in Paris.
From 2008-2012, Kurt headed the global Immunology and Inflammation area (I&I) at SANOFI, based in Paris, where he was in charge of the early development of the two innovative antibodies dupilumab (Dupixent) and sarilumab (Kevzara), to treat atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis, respectively.
Before joining SANOFI, Kurt was a global program head at Novartis AG, based in Basel, Switzerland
Kurt holds a PhD in biomedical sciences and has spent more than 25 years in industry and academia. He is passionate about healthcare innovation and profoundly interested in transformative medicines and business models addressing the unmet medical need and offering tangible benefit for patients.
Kurt Stoeckli