Leadership Team
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Leadership Team
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Matthias Alder
Chief Executive Officer
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Matthias Alder serves as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Gain Therapeutics. He joined the Company in 2021 as Chief Operating Officer with more than 25 years of transactional, operational, and business development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Previously, Mr. Alder was Chief Business Officer at Autolus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing CAR T-cell therapies for hematological and solid tumors, where he led the corporate development, legal, IP and HR functions. Prior to joining Autolus, he served as EVP of Business Development & Licensing and General Counsel of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure there, Mr. Alder established a late-stage development pipeline in orphan and rare CNS and oncology indications through acquisitions and strategic alliances. He has also held executive management positions at Cytos Biotechnology AG as EVP Corporate Development and General Counsel, and Micromet, Inc. as SVP Administration and General Counsel. Earlier in his career, Matthias was a partner in the Life Sciences Transactions Practice at Cooley LLP and in-house counsel for Novartis’ pharmaceutical business. Matthias earned his LL.M. in Comparative Law from Miami University, his lic. Iur. from the University of Basel and is a member of the Virginia, California, New York and Zurich bar associations.
Jonas Hannestad M.D, Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Jonas Hannestad, M.D., Ph.D. serves as Chief Medical Officer of Gain Therapeutics. He joined the Company in March 2024 and brings 25 years of translational and early clinical development experience in CNS. His academic work focused on immuno-neurology, particularly on the effect of systemic inflammation on myeloid cells in the brain. His drug development expertise spans multiple indications, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Tranquis Therapeutics and Capacity Bio, SVP of Clinical Development at Alkahest, Medical Director at Denali Therapeutics, and Director of Neuroscience Discovery Medicine at UCB Pharma. Prior to his industry career, Dr. Hannestad led the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit at the Yale School of Medicine. He did postdoctoral work and residency training at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Duke School of Medicine, and the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Messina, Italy, and his M.D. from the University of Oviedo, Spain.
Gene Mack
Chief Financial Officer
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Gene Mack
Chief Financial Officer
Gene Mack serves as Chief Financial Officer of Gain Therapeutics. He joined the Company in April 2024 and brings 25 years of experience in the life sciences sector spanning clinical research, financing and capital markets, investing, corporate strategy and business development. Prior to joining Gain, Gene was CFO at privately held Imcyse SA between 2021 and 2023. Previous to Imcyse, Gene was CFO at OncoC4, a privately held biotechnology company that spun out of Merck & Co’s (MSD) $475 million acquisition of OncoImmune in 2020 where he had also been CFO. Before that, he has held the CFO role for several development- and commercial-stage biopharmaceutical companies, raising over $350 million in IPO and other equity transactions. Prior to his operational experience, Gene covered the biotechnology and life sciences sector as a senior publishing analyst at various investment banks, including Gruntal & Co, Lazard, Mizuho, and HSBC. Gene received both his B.S. in Biochemistry and M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University.
Manolo Bellotto, Ph.D.
Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager
Terenzio Ignoni, Pharm.D.
SVP Technical Operations
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Terenzio Ignoni, Pharm.D.
SVP Technical Operations
Dr. Terenzio Ignoni, joined Gain Therapeutic in June 2021 as SVP Quality and CMC bringing with him more than 22 years of hands-on experience in pharmaceutical technical operations, quality and regulatory CMC with a successful track record of drug approvals in multiple jurisdictions, notably: Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Latin America. Before joining Gain, Terenzio was VP Quality and QP at Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ NASDAQ), a global biopharmaceutical company focused on neuroscience and oncology rare diseases. During his tenure at Jazz, Terenzio lead product submissions, technical due diligences and site pre-approval inspections from US-FDA, PMDA, ANVISA, EMA. Prior to Jazz Pharmaceutical, Terenzio held the position of VP Quality at Gentium a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products. During his time at Gentium, he was in charge of the development and deployment of the quality system, technical operations (manufacturing and control) and CMC regulatory strategy leading to the EMA approval of the drug lead candidate in 2013 and of the merge of the company with Jazz Pharmaceuticals in 2014. Terenzio started his career as Quality Control supervisor at Biosearch manufacturing (merged into Vicuron/Pfizer), a company specialized in the development and manufacturing of antibiotics agents and as Analytical Development & Quality Control Manager of Zambon Group (Lonigo manufacturing site). Terenzio received a Pharm.D. from the University of Turin, Italy.
Dr. Joanne Taylor
SVP, Research
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr. Joanne Taylor, Ph.D. has served as a scientific advisor to Gain since September 2020. Dr. Taylor has over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has consulted for various pharma and biotech clients since 2018. She also developed her career as vice president, head of neuroscience for Prescient Healthcare Group where she headed up their neuroscience business (comprising neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology, rare diseases and pain), supporting the portfolio, clinical and regulatory strategies of a wide array of global top 25 pharmaceutical company clients. She also served as director of external research, neuroscience and previously as a senior group leader and scientist at Eisai’s London Research Laboratories and European Headquarters where she directed global teams in the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies for neurological conditions, in particular Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. There she later led neuroscience portfolio reviews to identify areas of major focus and investment, as well as partnering activities with academia and biotech. Dr. Taylor received a Ph.D. in in Developmental Neuroscience from King’s College and completed a postdoctoral fellowship and senior research post at the ETH in Zurich.