Nuvalore Establishes Advisory Board with World-Class Experts

Katja Betts holds an international Master’s degree in Communication Management and has many years of experience in the life science environment. Her focus is on strategic business development, team building and product marketing. She has been working at PROGEN Biotechnik GmbH since 2016 and has been responsible for product management, marketing, sales, quality management and HR as managing director since 2019. Since 2020, she has also been Co-President of PROGEN Biotech Inc., the American subsidiary that handles sales in the USA. In 2023, Ms. Betts was appointed to the strategic advisory board of the life science cluster bioRN, where she is particularly committed to the interests of smaller companies and women in leadership positions.

Prior to joining PROGEN, Ms. Betts worked at EMBO and Newcastle University (UK), studied at USI Switzerland, UCLA USA and SMU Singapore and lived in the UK for over six years.

Dr. Hendrik von Büren studied pharmacy at the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg, where he worked as an assistant at the Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy for 4-5 years after qualifying as a pharmacist in 1984. In 1989, he received his doctorate in pharmaceutical technology from the University of Heidelberg. From 1989 to 1998 he worked as Manager Pharmaceutical Development Solids at Boehringer Mannheim GmbH/Roche Diagnostics. He then joined Knoll AG as Head of Pharmaceutical Development Oral, a position he retained after the acquisition by Abbott. From 2005 to 2010, Dr. von Büren held global positions as Global Function Head Clinical Supply Operations and Head of Solid Dosage Form Development. In 2010, he was appointed Head of Drug Product Development Ludwigshafen, which he continued in the newly formed AbbVie. In 2016, this role was expanded to include Bioanalytics/DMPK/PCS. From 2020 until his retirement in 2023, he was Managing Director Research and Development at Abbvie Germany.

Outside of his professional activities, Dr von Büren is a member of the Advisory Board for Biotechnology of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, a member of the Bioethics Commission of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and a member of the Board of Directors of BKK Pfalz.

Dr. Michael Dickes is a licensed pharmacist. After studying pharmacy at Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg he worked at German Cancer Research Center, Institute for Toxicology and Chemotherapy in Heidelberg and earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of Heidelberg.

In 1989 he joined Knoll AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany as Manager Analytical Development in the department of Pharmaceutical Development providing the analytical support for the development of oral and parenteral dosage forms from early to late stage development while increasing his focus on biologics.  

After the acquisition of Knoll AG by Abbott Michael continued as Head of Analytical Development Biologics before joining the CMC project management group in 2006. In the role of CMC project director, leading crossfunctional global CMC teams he managed all CMC aspects of drug substance, drug product and combination product development from preclinical development to clinical development until regulatory approval for marketing and ensured CMC strategy is aligned with clinical and regulatory strategy. He continued this role also with the newly formed Abbvie in 2013 until his retirement in 2023.

Prof. Dr. Gert Fricker is Professor at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg, Germany. 

After studying Chemistry and Medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and finishing his PhD in 1986, he worked as Post-Doc in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. In 1988 he became research scientist at Sandoz Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. 

1995, G. Fricker was appointed Professor at the University of Heidelberg, 2002 he became chair for Pharmaceutical Technology and Director at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology. In addition to his university affiliation, G. Fricker is Head of the Technology Transfer Center Biopharmacy and Analytics in Heidelberg, a service center for Pharma Industry. In 2016, he was initiator of the university spin-off company HeiDelTec GmbH dealing   with oral peptide drug delivery.  

His main research interests are the permeation of drugs across barrier tissues with particular emphasis on intestine and blood brain barrier as well as the development of drug targeting systems by colloidal drug carriers.

Dr. Klaus Lubbe is the president and founder of Bio X Cell. He created the company in 1997 in response to the growing need for accessible, high-quality, in vivo-ready antibodies in both the private and public research sectors.

Klaus was born in Germany where he earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Stuttgart. After graduation and 2 years as a post-doc at MIT, Klaus was offered a job with Boehringer Ingelheim in Connecticut. While there, he specialized in purifying and fermenting monoclonal antibodies. This job gave Klaus the cell culture knowledge he would later draw upon when starting Bio X Cell.

Initially, Klaus was responsible for every facet of Bio X Cell, from production through shipping. As the company has grown, Klaus has continued to oversee operations, ensuring ongoing quality of production as well as modeling a positive company culture that encourages a strong sense of social responsibility among employees.

Outside of the office, Klaus enjoys road biking, skiing, hiking with his dog Lui, and making sushi. He and his wife Patti enjoy watching their daughter swim competitively, and his family’s collective love of the outdoors has taken them on adventures all over the world.