Berlin, Germany - December 10, 2009, Berlin, Germany - MagForce Nanotechnologies AG announced the appointment of Peter Heinrich as the new chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2010. Uwe Maschek will resign as CEO as of December 31, 2009.
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Dr. Peter Heinrich was co-founder of MediGene AG and served as its managing director and CEO from 1995 until the middle of 2009. MediGene is a biotechnology company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and included in the TecDax index which at that time was focused on the development of innovative pharmaceuticals in the fields of oncology/immunology and cardiology. In his long career with the company, Dr. Heinrich initially served as CEO/managing director and sole executive board member with responsibility for all areas.
Following the company's stock exchange listing in 2000 and expansion of its executive board, he held specific board-level responsibility for the areas of administration, business development, controlling, corporate finance, investor and public relations, organizational development, intellectual property and human resources, along with executive responsibility for the company's facilities in San Diego (California) and Oxford (UK). Under the leadership of Dr. Heinrich, MediGene grew from a venture capital-financed start-up to an established biopharmaceutical company with international operations and drugs on the market.
Along the way, Dr. Heinrich played a key role in achieving a number of noteworthy milestones in the company's development, including the regulatory approval and market launches of the drugs Eligard, Veregen and Oracea, the acquisition of companies, the in- licensing and out-licensing of drug candidates, strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical corporations, the company's listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2000 as well as follow-on capital market transactions.
Prior to his achievements at MediGene, Dr. Heinrich worked for almost eight years at Wacker Chemie AG in Munich, where he held several positions in management and in biotechnology research and development. During this time he was substantially involved in the development of biotechnology products which have since been successfully brought to market. Following his studies in biology and chemistry at the University of Munich, where he received his doctoral degree in biochemistry, Dr. Heinrich continued with post-doctoral work at Harvard University. ■