
"It is here that new molecules, active substances and drugs for the largest companies in the world are created"
Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group
“We care about delivering on our commitments”
Vice Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group
“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”
President & CEO, Polpharma Biologics Group
"We care about delivering on our commitments"
President, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”
President, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw
“We are experts in managing projects, transparent communicators and always deliver on our commitments”
VP Programs, Portfolio & Strategy, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“Our patients expect and deserve high quality and innovative medicines”
VP Quality, Polpharma Biologics Group
“We are self-motivated to reach the end result, wait and see is not in our vocabulary”
Global Head of CDMO, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw
“We value everyone equally and always treat each other with respect ”
VP People & Organization, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We care about being respectful and transparent”
Director of Legal & Public Affairs, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”
VP TechOps, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
Member of the Advisory Board
Member of the Advisory Board
Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group
"It is here that new molecules, active substances and drugs for the largest companies in the world are created"
Jerzy Starak is the founder and Chairman of Polpharma Biologics Group B.V. and belongs to the group of Polish entrepreneurs, whose activities contributed to the modernization of the Polish economy. Visionary, who does not lack the courage, determination and perseverance in making difficult business challenges. Thanks to his activity, companies such as Baxter, Bols, Lessafre, Sanofi, Bunge, Nutricia and Colgate-Palmolive, appeared in Poland. In 2000, became the owner of Polpharma S.A. in Starogard Gdanski, joined by Medana Pharma S.A. Sieradz Branch Duchnice purchased from the company Bioton Warsaw Polfa S.A. and the company Sanfarm, transformed into a branch of Production in Nowa Deba.
Vice Chairman, Polpharma Biologics Group
“We care about delivering on our commitments”
Hannes Teissl is the Vice Chairman of Polpharma Biologics Group B.V. and also serves as Chairman of Polpharma Biologics S.A. in Gdansk. He has been with Polpharma Biologics since 2012 and was instrumental in establishing its foundations in Poland as well as the Netherlands (acquisition of Bioceros) and Switzerland (creation of Joint Venture Bioeq AG). Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Hannes has been an Executive Management Board Member at Sandoz, where he held several international management positions over 22 years (e.g. Global Head of Biopharmaceuticals, Global Head of M&A, CEO of Sandoz Germany).
President & CEO, Polpharma Biologics Group
“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”
Dr. Joerg Windisch has around 25 years of experience in the development, manufacture and regulatory licensure of biologic therapies. Since joining Polpharma Biologics, Dr. Windisch has made significant contributions to the organization's formation and growth, and the development of its frontrunner products. Prior to joining Polpharma, Dr. Windisch served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Affimed, a NASDAQ-traded biotech company which develops innovative bi- and trispecific antibodies as immune cell engagers to treat various kinds of cancer. Before that, Dr. Windisch spent almost 20 years at Novartis/Sandoz where he most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals. He was a key figure in developing the first biosimilars approved in Europe and the US.
President, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
"We care about delivering on our commitments"
Jan Krzewinski is the General Manager Gdansk and COO of Polpharma Biologics. Prior to his current position Jan held various roles at Polpharma including the Director of the Chariman’s Strategic Projects Office. Before joining Polpharma he spent almost 9 years working for Mid Europa Partners, the largest CEE-focused private equity fund where he was responsible for executing and monitoring investments. While at Mid Europa Partners Jan held supervisory board-level positions at Lux Med, Diagnostyka, Alpha Medical and Polskie Koleje Linowe. Jan continues to serve on the supervisory boards of Herbapol Lublin and the EFC Educational Foundation. Jan is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (BSc) and Johns Hopkins University, SAIS (MA).
President, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw
“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”
Frederic Papp is the General Manager Warsaw and CTO of Polpharma Biologics. He has over 25 years of professional experience. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Frederic worked at Merck as Site Head of a Biotech Plant (Spain) as well as Head of Global Biotech Network Operations (Switzerland) alongside performing other senior global and local roles. He earned his MSc in Biology from the Technology University in Dijon (France).
VP Programs, Portfolio & Strategy, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We are experts in managing projects, transparent communicators and always deliver on our commitments”
Alex is an experienced leader and strategist with a broad background in marketing, product development, business development, portfolio management and launch. She has over 18 years experience in pharmaceuticals, 8 years in originators, 8 years in biosimilars, and 2 years in generics. Alex is British, with Biochemistry and MBA degrees. She has a true passion to be part of a company generating high quality affordable medicines for patients. Her background in McKinsey, MorphoSys, and Sandoz as rituximab program lead and later head of Strategy and Novartis Collaborations sets her up perfectly to have impact at Polpharma Biologics as VP of Strategy, Programs and Portfolio.
VP Quality, Polpharma Biologics Group
“Our patients expect and deserve high quality and innovative medicines”
Mathieu Ballié is a pharmacist from the University of Strasbourg, France. Fascinated about the engineering of biological drugs, he started his career in 2002 with Novartis France at a site manufacturing monoclonal antibodies. He was the site Quality Director when after 10 years, he moved to Switzerland to lead the Quality Assurance oversight for contract manufacturers for Novartis biologics, and later on for Bayer Healthcare Switzerland. Eager to be part of a new greenfield project, he relocated with his family to Singapore as Quality Director for the first biopharmaceutical plant built by Novartis in Asia contributing to facility approval by US FDA and EMA. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Mathieu was in New Jersey, leading the US Quality organization for Advanced Accelerator Applications, a Novartis company, for manufacture and distribution of innovative radioligand therapy products.
Global Head of CDMO, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw
“We are self-motivated to reach the end result, wait and see is not in our vocabulary”
Frank Ternes is the Global Head of CDMO of Polpharma Biologics and a Board Member of Polpharma Biologics Warsaw. Frank has over 30 years of professional experience. He was at Boehringer Ingelheim for over 25 years, working as SVP Contract Manufacturing Business, SVP Biotech & Operations and VP Supply Chain Management. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Frank served as Chief Business Officer at Northway Biotechpharma as well as Chief Business Officer at Rentschler Biotech. He earned his MA in Economics from the University of Bonn (Germany).
VP People & Organization, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We value everyone equally and always treat each other with respect ”
Lidia Owska is HR professional with more than 20 years of international experience in pharmaceutical sector, global organizations and matrix setups. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics Lidia has served as HR & Communication Director for Novo Nordisk A/S in Poland, Russia and Italy being responsible for setting and execution of HR strategy in more than 25 countries of Europe and Asia as well as start-up of the first greenfield, modern insulin production facility in Russia. She is focused on contributing to the business by ensuring organization excellence, enhancing leadership and developing solutions for the business objectives delivery. Lidia is a graduate of Oxford Brookes University (MBA), has completed post-graduate studies in Coaching at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities and HR Strategies at Warsaw School of Economics.
Director of Legal & Public Affairs, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We care about being respectful and transparent”
Agnieszka Kosowska is director of Legal & Public Affairs at Polpharma Biologics. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Agnieszka was at Roche Poland for thirteen years as the Legal Director, later adding Compliance and Communications functions to her role. She served as the Legal Director for the Central European region at Colgate-Palmolive as well as an associate attorney at PwC Legal and White & Case in Poland. Her background includes working with a US investment bank and law firm in Washington, DC. Agnieszka is a member of the Warsaw Bar Association and earned her law degree at Jagiellonian University (Poland) as well as her post graduate diploma at the school's Intellectual Property Institute. She studied as an exchange scholar at the European Law Center at KU Leuven (Belgium) and has completed multiple specialized courses at INSEAD (France).
VP TechOps, Polpharma Biologics Gdańsk
“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”
Dr. Kiędzierska-Mencfeld has more than 15 years of experience in recombinant protein purification and expression in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, and more than 10 years of experience in the development and GMP production of biosimilars. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics as Production Director, Dr. Kiedzierska-Mencfeld spent four years as Head of GMP Production at the biotechnology company Mabion S.A. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Wroclaw, her MS in molecular biotechnology and biocatalysis from the Technical University of Wroclaw, and completed her masters thesis at the Technical University of Dresden.
Board Member, Site Finance Director, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw Sp. z o.o.
“We work with dedication and find innovative solutions”
Igor Kostyszyn is a member of the management board and finance director of Polpharma Biologics Warsaw. Igor has over 20 years experience in finance for biotechnology companies beginning with Polfa Warsaw, which specialises in sterile and ophthalmic medicines and has a portfolio of over 140 medicines, where as CFO he oversaw the acquisition by Polpharma in 2012 and integration of its finance team into the Polpharma Group, significantly increasing profitability. Following the acquisition Igor worked on wider projects for Polpharma including business plans for the Polpharma Biologics Warsaw site, the most advanced biologics manufacturing facility in the region, since 2014 he has been overseeing the 30,000m2 sites construction including the transfer to the Polpharma Biologics group in 2020. Alongside finalising the site ready for operations in 2021 Igor overseas the sites financial operations and leads many of the group’s financial operations. Igor holds a Masters in Economy from the University of Gdansk.
Board Member, Biologics Warsaw Sp. z o.o., Business Director of the Site
“We are open and honest without exception”
Wojciech is a Member of the Management Board of Polpharma Biologics Warsaw overseeing the support business functions of the Warsaw site. Wojciech joined Polpharma Biologics from Bioton S.A where he served as the Global Diabetes Business Unit Director. Before that Wojciech spent near 15 years at Novo Nordisk working as General Manager for Poland, Head of Sales & Marketing Effectiveness in region Europe East as well as General Manager for Slovenia. Wojciech holds a M.Sc. Eng. in Biotechnology / Genetic Engineering from the Lodz University of Technology and an MBA from the Leon Kozminski Academy.
Chief Development Officer, Polpharma Biologics Utrecht B.V.
“What drives us is to make high quality biological medicines available for everybody.”
Dr. Emile van Corven is Chief Development Officer at Polpharma Biologics Utrecht. He started his career in academia, and after 9 years he moved into the biotech industry in 1992. Before joining the current company in 2015 he has had various leadership roles in pharmaceutical product development and GMP manufacturing of complex biologicals (recombinant proteins and vaccines) at Pharming, Crucell, and J&J. During his career he was also head of the department of Biotechnological Medicines, with final responsibility of the regulatory review by the Dutch authorities of the CMC part of dossiers for market approval of biotech products within the EMA jurisdiction.
Director TechOps, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw Sp. z o.o.
"We like to collaborate and can rely on each other"
Dr. Jorge Garcia de Ancos is a Director TechOps Warsaw. He has over 30 years of professional experience. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics Jorge was at Merck (Spain). He served as Production and MS&T Director as well as Digitalization and Supply Director. Jorge earned his PhD in Biology from University in Madrid (Spain).
Director Technical R&D, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
“We are self-motivated to reach the end result - “Wait and see” is not in our vocabulary”
Dr. Anna Cyranka-Czaja has more than 14 years of experience in research and development of biotech industry, mostly focused on antibody drug candidates and biosimilar program management. Before joining Polpharma she has worked for start-up companies in Zurich and Poland, focusing on novel drug discovery based on antibody fragments. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Biotechnology Faculty at the University of Wroclaw with cooperation of ETH Zurich. She holds MS in molecular biotechnology from Technical University of Gdansk and is currently completing MBA studies.
Director Clinical Research & Development, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
“We are passionate about getting safe and effective medicines to patients”
Dr Karsten Roth leads the clinical and preclinical development activities at Polpharma Biologics. Before joining Polpharma Biologics, Karsten worked at Mundipharma Biologics (formerly Cinfa Biotech) where he served as Director Clinical Operations & Pharmacovigilance. In his 5-year tenure there, Karsten was instrumental in designing and execution of the development and achieving EMA approval for Pelmeg', a pegfilgrastim biosimilar. Before that, Karsten spent 8 years at Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals, serving, among other roles, as Head Clinical Development Immunology and Head Clinical Development Hematology. He substantially contributed to several Biosimilar marketing authorization submissions for the US and EU which are on the market globally today. He presented at FDA, PMDA and EMA meetings, and was setting up and leading global advisory boards for various products. Prior to joining Sandoz, Karsten worked at Astellas, Novartis Pharma and Quintiles, in clinical R&D. Overall, Karsten has 24 years of experience in this area. Karsten holds a PhD in biochemistry, a postgraduate degree in pharmaceutical medicine and a masters in project management from the George Washington University. Karsten is also a Vice Chair of Biosimilars Medicines Group, a sector of Medicines for Europe.
Director Regulatory Affairs, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
“Our common mission is to bring products to patients and to overcome the regulatory hurdles on the way to approval”
Marc-André is heading the regulatory affairs team at Polpharma Biologics. He has 12 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and a track record of successful health authority meetings with FDA, EMA and local health authorities. His expertise includes technical, pre-clinical and clinical development of biopharmaceuticals, covering both innovative products and biosimilars from early development to commercialization. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Marc held positions with increasing responsibilities at Sandoz, Roche and bioeq, serving as laboratory head in analytical characterization, technical regulatory lead and global regulatory lead, respectively. He was responsible for the preparation of regulatory dossiers, coordinated global regulatory submissions and coached cross-functional teams in health authority interactions. Marc studied at the University of Bielefeld, Germany and the University of Notre Dame, USA, and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry.
Director Intellectual Property, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
"We anticipate potential issues before they arise, always ensuring high quality outcomes"
Stefanie is a qualified German and European patent attorney with more than 15 years experience in the field of intellectual property. She leads all IP-related matters at Polpharma Biologics. Previously Stefanie worked more than a decade for Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals, bringing several biosimilars to the markets worldwide and advising her clients at all product stages including development, litigation, and launch. Prior to joining Sandoz she worked for a law firm in Munich. Stefanie holds a PhD in biology from the University of Tübingen.
Director Quality, Polpharma Biologics Warsaw Sp. z o.o.
“We anticipate potential issues before they arise, always ensuring high quality outcomes”
Dr Philip James is a Director Quality Warsaw. He has over 30 years of professional experience. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Philip was in Global Quality at Famar for seven years. He served as a Quality Director at Johnson&Johnson – Omrix; COO at Biotech Design & Validation as well as Senior Validation Manager at Wyeth Biotech. Philip received his PhD in Cell Physiology at the University in Liverpool (United Kingdom).
Director Procurement, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
“We are focused on building long term partnerships driving to common success and sustainable growth”
Karolina Topczewska has more than 21 years of professional experience across the pharmaceutical and bio industries, combining in-depth knowledge of sourcing and procurement with management experience in engineering and strategic purchasing functions. Since joining Polpharma in 1999, Karolina has held roles of increasing responsibility at the organization, including Category Manager for Polpharma Group and, subsequently, Head of Purchasing for Polpharma Bio Unit and now Purchasing Director for Polpharma Biologics SA. She earned her master’s degree in Law from Gdańsk University and MBA from University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management) and completed her post-graduate studies - European Integration – Aid Funds at Gdańsk University.
Head of CDMO Business Development, Europe, Polpharma Biologics Group BV
“We care for speed and excellence in communication with our clients and partners”
Roland Hecht is Head of Business Development CDMO Europe at Polpharma Biologics since January 2020, with a 20 years background in Business Development in the Biotech-CDMO Industry. Before, he was Chief Customer Officer at Halix, a CDMO start-up company based in Leiden, The Netherlands. In his previous roles he was a Senior Director of Business Development at Biomeva (now AGC Biologics), from 2014 -2018, in Heidelberg, Germany and Vice President of Business Development for CMC Biologics in Copenhagen (now AGC Biologics) from 2010 – 2014. Previous to this, from 2003 - 2010, he was Senior Director of International Sales for Rentschler Biotechnologie in Laupheim, Germany. From 2002 -2003, Roland was Director of Sales and Marketing and General Manager of Elchrom Scientific in Germany, a Swiss start-up company in the field of high-resolution DNA Electrophoresis. From 2000 - 2002, he was a Sales Executive at Excell Biotech (Edinburgh, Scotland), a Contract Manufacturer of microbial and mammalian derived biopharmaceuticals. From 1994 - 2000 Roland hold various positions in sales, marketing and technical customer support at Stratagene and Q-Biogene, companies which were active in the field of laboratory instruments and reagents for academic research and Biotech companies. Roland is graduated with a diploma in Biology in 1991 and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1994, with a three-year occupational MBA education completed in 1995.
Director Administration & BD, Polpharma Biologics S.A.
“We care about delivering on our commitments”
Tomasz Goralczyk has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical business development, including both licensing-in and licensing-out. Tomasz started at Polpharma as New Product Acquisition Manager, identifying and initiating opportunities to expand the organization's portfolio of products. He then led the formation of Polpharm's out-licensing department and strategy as Licensing-Out Director, where he was responsible for licensing out products developed by the Polpharma group of companies. Prior to his time at Polpharma, Tomasz was Head of the Foreign Projects Department at Adamed. He has an MSc in molecular biology from Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
General Manager, Polpharma Biologics Utrecht B.V.
“We anticipate potential issues before they arise, always ensuring high quality outcomes”
Jonathan RF Robinson is the CEO of Polpharma Biologics Utrecht, he was appointed to the position in January 2020. Jonathan has 28 years experience in the Pharma and Biotech sectors. He started his career as a Scientific Officer in NHS Pathology, after 4 years he retrained as a Process Engineer and started his first engineering assignment at ICI bioproducts in Billingham UK. He has moved through various leadership roles in facility start up and production management of both small and large molecule manufacturing sites at Searle, Chirex, and Avecia Billingham (now Fujifilm). For the past 14 years he has been working in Business development. His first major role was at CPI (UK) where he helped to secure the funding for the development of the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre (Darlington) and built the client pipeline which secured its future. Prior to joining Polpharma Biologics, Jonathan was VP Business development for Abzena, where he was successful in securing business for this UK/US based Biologics CDMO. Jonathan has a HND in Medical Laboratory Sciences (Birmingham), a BSc Hons in Process Biotechnology (Teesside) and an MBA (Durham).
Chief Scientific Officer, Polpharma Biologics Utrecht B.V.
“Without exception we are open and honest to our clients”
Dr. Louis Boon is Chief Scientific Officer at Polpharma Biologics Utrecht formerly Bioceros and a founder of Bioceros BV. . He is experienced in molecular and cellular immunology and therapeutic antibody development, and has been involved in the trajectory of preclinical preparation and design of first-into-man studies using therapeutic antibodies. A founder of Bioceros BV, Dr. Boon has held various scientific management roles throughout his career, including CSO for 4AZA Bioscience NV and Director of Preclinical R&D for MacroZyme BV. After completing his post-doctoral studies, Dr. Boon helped to found PanGenetics, where he would later hold the position of VP Preclinical (ad interim) following the company's merger with Tanox Inc. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Amsterdam and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of Amsterdam's Department of Anatomy and Embryology and Department of Clinical Epidemiology.
Member of the Advisory Board
Mr. Hasler joined the Polpharma Biologics Advisory Board in May 2020. He is an advisor to Pharma-/Biotech firms globally and owner of HPH Management GmbH, Kuessnacht, Switzerland. Previously he was a Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vicarius Pharma AG, a privately held company that provided strategic options to non-European bio-pharma companies bringing late-stage assets to the European market. His prior experience includes Elan Corporation, where he was Chief Operating Officer, and Biogen, Inc., where his positions included Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Neurology and International. Previously, Mr. Hasler was at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director of Wyeth Group Germany and General Manager, Wyeth-Lederle Switzerland, Austria and ECE. Mr. Hasler is Chairman of the Board of HBM Healthcare Investments AG in Switzerland and Chairman of the Board of Shield Therapeutics, London. Mr. Hasler holds a Federal Swiss Commercial Diploma and a Marketing Manager Certificate from the Swiss Institute of Business Economy SIB, Zurich, Switzerland.
Member of the Advisory Board
Wolf has over 40 years of experience in Biotech specifically the physical drug development of pharma proteins. Since 2011, he works also as president of his own strategy of CMC biotech consulting company (bbphc GmbH) helping large biopharma in innovation technologies, VC’s in Due Diligence, and new start up’s as Advisor or Board member. Until his retirement from BiogenIdec in 2011, he was a member of the Board of BiogenIdec International GmbH in Zug, CH, served as TO and strategic internal advisor in projects related to partnering and Biosimilars, especially in Asia Pacific. In the course of his long bio-pharm carreer he had the opportunity to gain hands on and direct managerial experience in all technical disciplines involved in the production and qualification of pharmaproteins from clone to final dosage form. In early (1985) German Biotech of Boehringer Ingelheim he served as ‘Herstellleiter’ and had numerous interactions with international Regulatory Agencies in the context of protein drug submissions but also in the ICH process as coauthor of the first global Guidelines for biotech manufacturing (1995). In his career he was a leading player in the conception and construction of 2 large scale biotech plants, in Europe (1985,Boehringer Ingelheim/Genentech JV in Germany), and in the USA (BiogenIdec, Oceanside, CA, USA, 2004, now a Genentech/Roche antibody producing facility). He had joined (Biogen) IDEC in 2000 in San Diego as member of the Executive Board (product focus: Rituxan, Zevalin, Tysabri, Avonex) after 5 years spent at Hoffmann-La Roche in New Jersey, as Head of Biotech Production & Dev. (Roferon and Pegasys) and after 16 years (1979-1995) at Boehringer-Ingelheim, Germany starting BI’s large investment in Biotech in Germany working on Interferons, tPA, and other proteins many of them antibodies. He has held numerous leadership positions in professional pharmaceutical and Biotech societies in the USA and Europe including PhRMA in the USA and EFPIA in the EU. He published over 100 research and review papers and more recently was an internationally well-known and invited speaker at many international Biotech conferences.