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Client Testimonials

Client Testimonials

Our Clients

& Testimonials

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“Catenion is an outstanding partner. They deeply understand the needs of a client, work closely with the utmost professionalism and focus on key outcomes, with unwavering focus. Their insights are top notch across the board with true scientific rigor.”

David Berry

Valo Health / Flagship Pioneering

CEO / General Partner

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“When dealing with strategic topics related to R&D, Catenion is my partner of choice. They bring unique perspectives and frameworks, and their deep rooting in science and technology clearly differentiates them from other consulting firms that I know.”

Dr. Stefan Oschmann

Merck KGaA

CEO

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“One of the toughest decisions I had to take in my role as CEO of Bayer Pharma was to refocus our Discovery activities after the market withdrawal of Lipobay. Using their proprietary tools, benchmarks and a tough, fact–based approach, Catenion guided the Discovery management team through a difficult process of prioritisation of therapeutic areas and projects and provided crucial support for the decision making of the Bayer Corporate Board.”

Dr. Wolfgang Plischke

Bayer Pharma

CEO

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“Catenion was able to identify and address the fundamental questions across every aspect of the value chain for each of the programs we assessed. Their insight into the science, regulatory landscape, manufacturing challenges, competitive dynamics, and commercial potential provided an objective understanding of the risks and opportunities.”

Mike Sherman

Endocyte

CEO

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“We have successfully worked with Catenion on various strategic- and portfolio related- topics. They really go deep into the science and are able to translate insights into effective strategies. They are fully at home in the world of US biotech and have an extensive network in Europe and Japan.”

Jon P. Stonehouse

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.

President and CEO

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“Teva Pharmaceuticals asked Catenion to do a comprehensive assessment of our specialty pipeline supporting the executive team to define the future specialty strategy. Catenion was not shy of asking tough questions related to our R&D programs and portfolio selection. Our R&D organization highly appreciated their collaborative approach, scientific depth and independent mindset. Catenion convinced our R&D and executive teams, as well as the Board with independent recommendations based on real analytical depth. Crucially, their understanding of the organizational dynamics of decision-making in large organizations resulted in actionable results out of this project. I would recommend them to anybody who has challenging R&D strategy-related topics and requires an in-depth analysis of pipeline assets.”

Dr. Sven Dethlefs

Teva Pharmaceuticals

Executive Vice President, North America Commercial

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“In a year-long effort, Catenion helped us draft a long-term strategy and implementation plan, which has now become official policy of the IIA; they were crucial to the success of our strategy project and I strongly recommend them to any policy-makers intent on strengthening their local biomedical innovation systems.”

Anya Eldan

Israel Innovation Authority

VP, Head of Start-up Division

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“I would wholeheartedly recommend Catenion to academic and governmental decision-makers wishing to get their universities and hospitals on the global map of biomedical innovation.”

Dr. Giora Yaron

Tel Aviv University

Chairman

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“We found Catenion’s approach to be scientifically rigorous, and unbiased. Their team was world class, and provided invaluable insight to our management team.”

Robert Forrester

Verastem Inc.

President and CEO

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“I very much enjoy working with Catenion who combine a deep understanding of biomedical innovation and scientific understanding with strategic acumen and organizational savvy and I strongly recommend them to anybody with challenging strategic questions at the interface between academia and industry.”

Dr. Olaf Schermeier

Global Research & Development, Fresenius Medical Care

CEO

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“Catenion supported us in a very critical situation with a key late stage development project. Due to their pragmatic, critical and entrepreneurial approach, they largely contributed to the success of the crisis management team. My very positive experiences with the Catenion consultants during project/portfolio reviews have now also been confirmed at a tactical and operational level within a global project team.”

Dr. Oliver Maria Wilbert

Merck Serono SA

Senior Director Immunotherapies, Portfolio Development

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“Catenion have repeatedly supported our globalization strategy with practical advice – their in-depth understanding of the bio-pharmaceutical industry, its players and the R&D dynamic have been extremely helpful for us. We also appreciate their strong presence in Japan and understanding of Japanese culture.”

Makoto Hara

Sumitomo Dainippon Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Executive Vice President

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“We have been working several times with Catenion and have always been extremely satisfied by the quality of the contribution which helped us to find robust and smart answers to the questions we worked on together. Catenion has been very instrumental by forcing the organization to question the current dogma. Catenion clearly stands out among the small and big consulting companies I have worked with.”

Prof. Dr. Eric-Paul Pâques

Grünenthal GmbH

CEO

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“Ottobock HealthCare is the world market leader in prosthetics. Our major growth driver is the development and marketing of new and innovative products. With the intention to optimize our pipeline management we decided to implement portfolio management in our Prosthetics Business Unit. This has established great transparency regarding risk, commercial potential and strategic fit of R&D projects and marketed products. On that basis we are able to truly measure where we stand in R&D and in commercial terms versus our ambitious goals and are able to make timely adjustments, where required. Simultaneously portfolio management also supports our strategic planning of the development pipeline. During this entire journey, Catenion proved to be a true partner on strategic and operative levels for us and our teams.”

Dr. Helmut Pfuhl / Dr. Hans Dietl

Otto Bock HealthCare GmbH

Executive Vice President / Chief Technology Officer

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“With their systematic review of the key drivers of innovation and risk, Catenion has helped us focus our early stage medical devices and technology portfolios on the most promising assets. Their approach of on–the–job training our portfolio managers in the methodology and staying in the background led to great acceptance in the organization. As a result, we have decided to implement their approach. I have worked with Catenion for many years and in various roles and have always highly valued their contribution.”

Dr. Ulrich Thibaut

Drägerwerk AG

Member of the Board of Management (CTO)

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“Apart from their strong analytics, what I particularly appreciated was the pragmatic approach of the Catenion team. Without eschewing clarity and conflict where necessary, they involved the organization with a constructive, participatory spirit, thus turning initial apprehension into positive energy for implementation that we could harness for the change the company needed.”

Rob Koremans

Aventis Sanofi

Senior Vice President / CEO Generics Europe

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“Over the years, I have come to know Catenion as independent thinkers who use their insights and methodological sophistication to come up with creative solutions that work.”

Bert Tjeenk Willink

Boehringer Ingelheim

Member of the Board of Managing Directors, Head of Corporate Board Division Marketing and Sales

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“Catenion has supported us on a number of portfolio and strategy related projects at a critical time in the company’s history as we focus our R&D efforts on creating future value. They bring very disciplined and cutting–edge methods and processes, but most importantly they understand our needs and requirements as a fast–paced biotech company. I really value their independent point of view, which has been instrumental in challenging and guiding our senior team in coming up with a winning portfolio strategy.”

David S. McCullough

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Vice President, Strategic Planning, Commercialization & Corporate Development

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“We have successfully used Catenion for R&D portfolio management and strategy support. Catenion’s in–depth understanding of pharmaceutical R&D and their sharp analytical approach clearly differentiates them. Our collaboration has been efficient, valuable and constructive.”

Dr. Claus Braestrup

H. Lundbeck A/S

President and CEO

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“What I particularly appreciated in working with Catenion on the Personalised Medicine strategy for GSK is the rare combination of an in–depth understanding of the science (biomarkers, pharmacology, diagnostics, clinical trial designs, modelling tools..), the R&D processes, their very thorough strategic vision for R&D as well as the quality of their well articulated risk assessment tools both for R&D and commercial purposes. Through them I was able to develop a better vision of the key opportunities but also the real challenges of a Personalised Medicine Strategy. Their approach is robust and well qualified – it embeds the right balance of inspiration and pragmatism associated with a high level of discipline in collecting data and facts. Last but not least their sound assessment of organisations contributes to their remarkable sense of how to achieve the transformational benefit of new R&D approaches.”

Dr. Dominique Limet

Glaxo SmithKline

SVP & Head of Personalised Medicine Strategy

Note: Affiliations at the time of the collaboration with Catenion.
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Catenion Arno Heuermann 2

Arno Heuermann

Arno Heuermann is a founding Partner of Catenion who lives in Berlin, Germany. Arno has ten years of experience as CEO and COO. He has managed companies in Germany, France and Luxemburg.

While working on his degrees, Arno founded a technical engineering office in 1994. He continued to follow the entrepreneurial path in 1998 by founding Biopsytec GmbH, a DNA diagnostics company focused on agriculture, heading the company for more than five years as Managing Director.

In 1999, he co–founded Epigenomics AG, a public biotech company focused on DNA methylation, later remaining as an advisor and member of the firm’s Supervisory Board.

In August 2000, Arno orchestrated the founding and financing of Biopsytec Holding AG, thus merging Genious SA and the QTL AG and Biopsytec GmbH. He managed Biopsytec Holding AG for the next three years before helping launch Catenion in 2003. Since that time, he has been Catenion’s chief operating officer.

Arno holds a diploma degree in process engineering from the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. In addition, Arno attended the Berlin business school for Industrial Engineering and Management.

He is experienced in the diverse practices of patent management and has made numerous successful inventions.

Arno Heuermann is married and has two children. He is a lover of classical music, country life and horseback riding.

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Catenion Matthias Krings

Dr. Matthias Krings

Matthias Krings is a founding Partner of Catenion.

He has worked for international pharma, biotech and medtech organizations on a variety of topics. Matthias works with clients on developing corporate and R&D strategies, identifying new areas of opportunity, tailoring asset and company searches for BD&L and M&A, maximizing the value of existing assets through therapeutic expansion, and prioritizing R&D portfolios. Matthias is also resposible for the creation and delivery of bespoke client education programs in the Catenion Academy.

Before co-founding Catenion in 2003, Matthias was a consultant at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) and later joined a strategy consulting boutique, Theron.

Matthias holds a diploma and a doctorate degree in Biology from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. His PhD work was supported by a scholarship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds, Foundation for Basic Research in Medicine. Matthias made significant scientific contributions to the field of human evolution (Krings et al., Cell 1997: Neandertal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans).

Matthias lives in Munich & Berlin. He enjoys cooking, gardening, watersports and traveling.

Matthias co-authored Catenion’s Commentaries “Elements of Winning Strategies in R&D” and “Recombinant Portfolio Management – Recognizing and Enabling Innovation”. They are part of Catenion’s “Shaping Pharmaceutical Strategy” series that focuses on high-profile issues for the industry.

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Catenion Christian Elze

Christian Elze

Christian Elze is a founding partner of Catenion and has been developing the company’s business in Japan since 2008. He holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Columbia University.

Christian is working with companies, universities and governments in the field of biomedical innovation. In his work, Christian is focusing on how emerging technologies and translational research are re-shaping the respective roles of funding agencies, investors, biopharma companies and academia in the research and development of new drugs.

Besides his consulting work, Christian frequently speaks about Emerging Technologies, Healthcare Reform, Pricing & Reimbursement,  Biomedical Innovation, as well as Translational Research at industry conferences and universities in Japan, the US and Europe.

Christian is a fluent speaker of English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish and lives with his family in London.

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Dr. Markus Thunecke

Markus has written several Catenion Commentaries including “Risk Profiles of Corporate Portfolio Strategies” as well as “Elements of Winning Strategies in R&D”, “Recombinant Innovation Management (RIM) – How to Stimulate Breakthrough Innovation within Large R&D Organisations”, “Recombinant Portfolio Management – Recognising and Enabling Innovation”. He also co–authored “Zero Base R&D” and “The Challenge for Japan’s Pharmaceutical Top Twenty”. All of them are part of Catenion’s “Shaping Pharmaceutical Strategy” series that focuses on high-profile issues for the industry.

Markus Thunecke is a founding Senior Partner of Catenion who lives in Berlin, Germany. Markus started his consulting career in 1997 at Mercer Management Consulting before joining a strategy consulting boutique, Theron, and setting up Catenion in 2003.

Markus has helped numerous clients around the globe in the pharmaceutical and medical products industries create competitive advantage. In addition to his work on strategy, Markus specialises in developing leading–edge analytical tools and combining them with organisational development capabilities. Markus is the developer of a number of Catenion’s proprietary tools for portfolio management and risk assessment. In recent engagements, Markus has helped clients develop and realign their R&D strategies, review their discovery and development portfolios, and create organisational models that foster innovation.

Markus is a frequent speaker at conferences on R&D strategy and portfolio management.

He holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Heidelberg, where he generated transgenic animal models for Alzheimer’s disease. He also has three years of research experience within the CNS field at Schering AG.

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