Interim Chief Executive Officer. Chief Medical Officer
A seasoned oncologist, Dr. Harstrick joined Affimed as Chief Medical Officer in March 2020, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience and expertise in cancer drug development, clinical trial research and regulatory approvals. In his role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Harstrick oversees Affimed’s first-in-class ICE® (innate cell engager) molecule clinical programs and strategies to advance clinical-stage assets toward regulatory approvals.
Before joining Affimed, Dr. Harstrick was the Chief Medical Officer and member of the management board at Molecular Partners in Schlieren, Switzerland, where he oversaw clinical activities, including the expansion of the clinical team. There, he also successfully transitioned several preclinical programs to first-in-human studies.
Prior to Molecular Partners, Dr. Harstrick held several senior executive roles, including Senior Vice President of Medical Sciences at ImClone Systems, Inc., which was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company. Following the acquisition, Dr. Harstrick served as a member of the Lilly Oncology Program Review Board and Lilly Oncology Business Unit Development Committee, where he led the design of several clinical programs, which subsequently resulted in global approval of two oncological antibodies, Portrazza™ (necitumumab) and Cyramza® (ramucirumab). Before joining ImClone, Dr. Harstrick was the Senior Vice President of the Global Clinical Development Unit, Oncology, at Merck Serono. In this function he was responsible for all development and medical affairs studies in oncology and oversaw the design and execution of the global development programs that led to the approval of Erbitux in multiple indications.
Dr. Harstrick received his M.D. at the Hannover Medical School, Germany. He spent his career as a practicing oncologist at the University Hospital and Cancer Center in Hannover; the Roswell Park Center Institute in Buffalo, New York; and the West German Cancer Center in Essen, Germany. Additionally, he was an Associate Professor for Internal Medicine at the University of Essen, Germany.
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Wolfgang Fischer joined the company in 2017 from Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals (Novartis Group). He has 20 years of experience in research and drug development with a focus on oncology, immunology, and pharmacology.
At Sandoz he managed the development and registration of Sandoz’s biosimilar pipeline assets since 2012 and served as Global Head of Program and Project Management since 2014. Prior to joining Sandoz, he held various positions of increasing responsibility within the Novartis Group since 2003, including Medical Director Oncology for Novartis Pharma Switzerland AG as well as Regional Medical Director Hematology (Emerging Growth Markets), where he was responsible for the Hematology Medical Affairs program and supported the launch of several products in various countries.
Wolfgang Fischer holds a Ph.D. in Cancer Research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. Thereafter, he completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Swiss Institute of Experimental Cancer Research, Lausanne, Switzerland, and at the Scripps Research Institute, Department of Immunology, La Jolla, CA, USA, followed by a state doctorate (Habilitation) in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Medical School of the University of Würzburg in Germany in 2003.
Chief Business Officer
Ms. Mueller is an accomplished executive who joined Affimed in 2016 as Chief Business Officer. She brings to the company over 20 years of commercial, brand and marketing expertise, having supported the domestic and global launch of new products and line extensions.
Before joining Affimed, Ms. Mueller held various leadership roles in the U.S. and globally during her 17-year tenure at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and, subsequently, Pfizer, following the organizations’ merger. Among other Pfizer roles, she served as Disease Area Lead for multiple therapeutic areas, and was responsible for developing disease area and indication strategy, commercial development and market shaping.
In addition to her broad and extensive commercial experience, Ms. Mueller led and managed two of Pfizer’s largest alliances and was the business development lead for Pfizer’s rare disease business unit.
During her career with Pfizer, she gained broad and deep commercial expertise through her roles as the Director of Strategy, Director of External Opportunities, and Director/Worldwide Commercial Lead of multiple in-line and pipeline assets. She enabled the PFE Specialty Care business to expand into the gene therapy business and new gastrointestinal therapeutic areas.
As the Director and Global Business Manager, Ms. Mueller had in-line responsibility for a product that delivered 850 million dollar in revenue through a strategic partnership with Medtronic.
Ms. Mueller began her health care career in hospital management, where she ran emergency medicine, critical care, in-house pediatrics and hospitalist programs. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.