Smarter Development to De-Risk, Accelerate & Advance Your Molecule Together

Inés de Andrés is an Account Director at Catalent, responsible for the Nordic region. With over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she has held key roles across CDMOs in Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. In her current role, she supports pharmaceutical clients from preclinical through Phase 2 development, delivering tailored solutions across formulation, manufacturing, and clinical supply. With a strong customer focus, Inés brings expertise in sales, business strategy, project management, and customer service. Inés holds a degree in Pharmacy from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 

Simon Birksø Larsen is the Founder & CEO of PipelineClarity, a strategy consultancy helping biotech and pharma companies sharpen R&D decision-making and improve portfolio outcomes. With more than 15 years of industry experience across startups, mid-size biotech, and global pharma, Simon has held leadership roles in portfolio management, operations, and competitive intelligence at companies including Lundbeck, SNIPR Biome, Zealand Pharma, and Novo Nordisk. He brings deep expertise in R&D productivity, decision science, and strategic portfolio design. Simon works with leadership teams to reduce complexity, optimize pipelines, and translate strategic intent into execution clarity, ensuring that R&D investments deliver measurable value and investor confidence. Simon holds a Ph.D. in drug discovery and computational medicinal chemistry from the University of Copenhagen.

Jan Neelissen, Ph.D., serves as the associate director of DMPK advisory services. He has over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in the field of DMPK. In his current role, he advises drug innovators in developing new therapeutics and designing tailored formulation, delivery, and manufacturing solutions. Neelissen is a trained biologist and holds a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences from Leiden University.

Stephen Tindal is the Director of Science and Technology at Catalent. His work is largely focused on preclinical to phase 1 development and is based on assessing preclinical data to help define any challenges to dosage form development. Tindal has more than 36 years’ experience at Catalent, where he has held roles of increasing responsibility and has demonstrated expertise in root cause investigation, technology innovation and supporting business development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Analytical Science from Loughborough University, Loughborough, U.K.

Diogo Gomes Lopes is PD Scientific Team Leader at Catalent in Schorndorf, Germany. He leads multidisciplinary scientific teams responsible for formulation and process development of oral solid dosage forms, as well as the implementation of bulk manufacturing and packaging processes from development through commercial launch. His work focuses on integrating material characterization, process modeling, and Quality by Design principles to reduce development risk, accelerate scale-up, and establish robust manufacturing strategies.
With more than 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, Diogo has supported development programs ranging from early formulation development to clinical and commercial manufacturing. He has authored numerous scientific publications and conference presentations and has extensive expertise in pharmaceutical development, tech transfer, process validation, and quality risk management. He holds a PharmD from the University of Lisbon and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Graz.

Dr. Karunakar (Karu) Sukuru is a global pharmaceutical R&D leader with over 30 years of experience in drug product development and advanced oral delivery technologies. As Global Vice President of Pharma Product Development and Head of Scientific Advisory at Catalent, he leads nearly 1,000 scientists across 14 international sites, driving innovation in oral delivery of small, mid and large molecule therapeutics. A recognized expert in controlled release softgel and enabling technologies, Dr. Sukuru holds eight issued patents and more than 20 pending across lyophilized biologics, nanoparticle systems, ASDs and capsule shell and fill formulation science. He previously held leadership roles at Endo Pharmaceuticals and Banner Pharmacaps. He is a frequent speaker at AAPS, CRS, FDA and IPC forums and has served as an expert committee member at USP setting standards. Dr. Sukuru obtained his Masters and Ph.D. from IIT-BHU, India and B.Pharm., Gulburga University, India He is also a Licensed Pharmacist.

AJ leads the Ventures arm of Pioneer Group which helps founders across Europe to create, fund, and scale breakthrough life science startups. His team has helped companies raise over £800m in funding to date, leveraging this track record into strategic partnerships with universities, public funding agencies, and multinational pharmaceutical companies.
AJ is an advisor for several UK and Ireland funding bodies as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, lecturing on biotech innovation and entrepreneurship.
AJ previously worked in business development for a venture-backed UK techbio startup which exited in 2018 and holds a PhD in Clinical Medicine from Trinity College Dublin.

Dan Goddard is a strategic advisor focused on helping life sciences founders turn breakthrough ideas into scalable, fundable companies. He specializes in building the operational, financial, and organizational foundations that enable early-stage ventures to grow with clarity and discipline, from capital strategy to finance and HR infrastructure.
Dan has worked closely with founders, CEOs, venture capital firms, incubators, and academic institutions to design and implement roadmaps that guide companies from seed stage through sustainable scale. His approach emphasizes aligning vision with execution, ensuring leaders have the structure, resources, and decision-making frameworks needed to navigate complex growth.
In addition to his advisory work, Dan contributes to leading founder development programs through organizations including the Termeer Institute, SCBio, American Cancer Society BrightEdge, Nucleate, and MassBio. Through these roles, he mentors emerging entrepreneurs and helps strengthen the broader biotech ecosystem by expanding access to education, networks, and capital pathways.
He is passionate about building mission-driven organizations and translating scientific innovation into lasting impact in biotech and healthcare.

Ronak Savla is a Blavatnik Fellow at Yale Ventures. He works with Yale faculty across departments to develop and execute business, pipeline, and capital strategies as they accelerate their academic research into biotech spinouts. Prior to joining as a Blavatnik fellow, Ronak was the Senior Director of Strategic Ventures at Catalent Pharma Solutions, where he managed the company’s strategic limited partnerships, and worked closely with leading life science investment firms, biotech incubators, universities, and other organizations that support early-stage biotech companies. Ronak led several corporate initiatives that enhanced the company’s approach and offerings for early-stage biotech companies. Previously, he led Medical Affairs and New Product Planning at Innate Pharma, supporting the commercial launch of a novel rare leukemia therapy and multiple clinical stage assets. Ronak Savla holds a PharmD and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Rutgers University and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Kevin joins from Boehringer Ingelheim where he as a Strategic Partner in Business Development has successfully been leading global licensing activities within Cardiometabolism and Retinal Health. Prior to that, Kevin worked at Novo Nordisk for several years in various positions within R&D, Global Marketing, and Business Development providing him a great insight and understanding of the whole value chain in the pharma industry. Kevin holds an MSc in Biochemistry from the University of Copenhagen, and a Ph.D. from Max Planck Institute. Kevin has several high-impact publications including a first-author publication in ‘Cell’.

Derek Brand is the Director of Scientific Collaborations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and has spent more than 25 years at the forefront of scientific innovation.  He was previously the Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at Columbia University and the Chief Operating Officer of NewYorkBIO – the industry association for biotech across New York State – which represents nearly 300 members and includes leading bioscience companies, universities, research institutions and others dedicated to advancing life science research and commercialization.  Derek has deep experience in startup biomedical companies and has been a founder, executive, board member and advisor across multiple ventures. He is also the founder and leader behind ECHO NYC, an organization fostering connectivity between key stakeholders in the NYC biomedical ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, capital providers, clinicians, and healthcare operators, which has run monthly “Bio-entrepreneurship in NYC” events since 2009.