[Online] TWIST Talk by Alexander Belcredi and Lorenzo Corsini of PhagoMed

Building a biotech: what we’ve learned so far

Abstract

In 2017 we started building our biotech company, PhagoMed, with a big vision: to revolutionize anti-bacterials and move us from broad-spectrum antibiotics to narrow-spectrum therapies. Four years later we’ve come a long way. We successfully built a strong team, established our own lab and science, filed our own patents and raised substantial funds. Along the way we celebrated many successes and learned from our failures. Reflecting on the journey so far, we can share a number of experiences around finding an idea for a new company, how to get it going and what to do / not to do.

CV

Alexander Belcredi has been working in the pharmaceutical space for over a decade. He spent nine years at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he was part of the global Healthcare team, focusing on Pharma and Medtech. While at BCG, Alexander became acutely aware of the urgent need to develop alternatives to antibiotics and was fascinated by the role that phage therapy can play. In 2017, he co-founded PhagoMed Biopharma GmbH, a biotech company developing phage-based pharmaceuticals to treat bacterial infections. At PhagoMed he serves as a CEO and focuses on the Business & Finance responsibilities. Alexander holds an MA in Modern History and Economics from the University of St. Andrews as well as an MBA from INSEAD.

Lorenzo has long been fascinated by the many examples of lysins effectively treating bacterial infections. And by how under-exploited this extremely diverse and abundant natural resource is. Lorenzo spent the last 9 years at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and was a Senior Principal in his latest role. Lorenzo has advised the top Biopharmaceutical companies, on how to improve their quality and efficiency of production. Earlier in his career he worked at Sanofi Aventis in lead optimization after high-throughput screening. Lorenzo co-founded PhagoMed in 2017 and currently serves as CEO with a focus on the Research & Development responsibilities. Lorenzo studied biochemistry at Frankfurt University and holds a PhD from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.