Bastiaan De Leeuw has been active in the field of drug delivery for the last 20 years. He has led projects covering dry-powder formulation development, inhaler design and development, and auto-injector design and development, as well as the associated stages of clinical and regulatory evaluations. In addition, he led the initial clinical evaluation of urologic diagnostic tests at NovioGendix (now MDxHealth) and has worked at Focus Inhalation, Akela Pharma, Oval Medical, and Bespak. Bastiaan has a degree in biopharmaceutical sciences, focussing on polymeric drug delivery systems for the formulation of proteins and peptides. His research combined pharmaceutical technology and pharmacology in industry-sponsored projects. 

Didier Pertuy is vice president of drug-device integrated development & device strategy at Sanofi. He joined Sanofi in 2007 as vice president of global pharmaceuti­cal sciences. Prior to joining Sanofi, he served in a number of senior management roles in new product development starting with 3 years at 3M Healthcare, then 10 years at E.MERCK, and finally 10 years at GSK. He has more than 30 years of experience in all aspects of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical drug product de­velopment activities including medical device development, ranging from research through development to final product commercialisation, and contributing to the development and launch of numerous new drugs including drug-device combina­tion products. He is an engineer and holds a master’s degree in biochemistry from the Applied Sciences Institute (INSA) of Lyon, France and an advanced degree in pharmacology-toxicology from the University of Sciences of Lyon, France.

Ian Thompson has been with Ypsomed AG, formerly Disetronic AG, since 1995 in a number of roles, including key account management and business development working with pharma companies to develop and bring to market innovative self-injection systems. He studied biochemistry and biotechnology in the UK from 1979-83, working initially in commercial roles for fermentation technology. He has worked in medical device companies since moving to Switzerland in 1990. Since 2003, his main focus has been business development and new product innovation leading to the successful development and launch of a range of new pen and autoinjector custom products for Ypsomed Delivery Systems. Ypsomed Delivery Systems continues to focus on the development and manufacturing of next-generation pen, autoinjector, and wearable injector technologies.

Andreas Kerschbaumer gained a diploma in chemistry and a BSc in inno­vation management. He started his professional career at Fresenius Kabi Austria in 1995 and was responsible for development and validation of ana­lytical procedures and head of the laboratory “Spectroscopy”. Starting in 2007, he was involved in the implementation of pre-filled syringes within the Fresenius Group in a leading position. In February 2010 he became the global project manager and responsible person for the center of competence for pre-filled syringes. In September 2014, Andreas changed to Novartis as deputy head of manufacturing for compounding, filling and visual inspec­tion. In this function he was responsible for the implementation and quali­fication of compounding, filling and inspection processes and going live of the manufacturing area. Since October 2018, Andreas has been focussed on visual inspection and especially on automated visual inspection.

Chris Muenzer is a senior device technology manager at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. He has almost 20 years of development experience focusing on drug delivery devices and has filed several patents in the field. At Novartis, he leads a team supporting in­jectable delivery systems for Novartis’ diverse portfolio of drugs. Mr. Muenzer holds a BSME from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US.

Daniel Latham is the head of device development operations in Global Drug De­velopment, Novartis where he leads an organisation responsible for developing delivery systems for combination products for new biologic entities, biosimilars, and small molecules. Over the past 10 years at Novartis, he has overseen significant device and primary packaging developments and launches and has significantly supported the growth of device development and combination products within the organisation. Prior to Novartis, he worked in a variety of roles in consumer health­care, focusing on the development of OTC medicines, transdermal patches, and medical devices. He has a Ph.D. in controlled drug delivery from Queen Mary, Uni­versity of London and a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in engineering from the University of Sheffield.

Klaus Ullherr, Senior Product Manager, has a degree in electrical engineering. After university he worked as a project manager in the electrical industry for several years. In March 2000, he joined Robert Bosch GmbH, Packaging Technology, Product Divi­sion Pharma Liquid. During the first two years, he was project manager responsible for handling complex customer orders. Since 2002, he is product manager for the business fields syringes and filling systems with global product responsibility. His main functions are: market analysis, initiating new product developments, business devel­opment, and expert for syringe processing. He is a member of the “PDA Interest Group pre-filled syringes” and works as an expert in the DIN/ISO group for primary packaging. Klaus is also member of ISPE and co-track-leader of the yearly ISPE Aseptic Conference. He is a well-known speaker on conferences covering trends and solutions for fill/finish equipment especially for pre-filled syringes, other pre-sterilized contain­ers, and single-use-filling-systems

Cedric is a device engineer and technical product owner at Janssen (Pharmaceutical Companies of J&J). He holds a master’s in medical device technology with a specialisa­tion in human centred design from the University of Applied Science in Berne. After working for Novartis and Actelion in different research and development roles, he joined Janssen in 2005 where he has held different development and market support roles. He is also a guest lecturer at the Berne University of Applied Science and a member of the Human Centered Design Workgroup of Swiss Medtech.

Mark A. Chipperfield spent 20 years working within large pharma (GSK, Sanofi Aventis, Novartis, Roche) in the field of drug delivery devices and special purpose packaging. Throughout his career, he has been heavily involved in the development of combination products in several forms: solution/suspension inhalers, multi-dose disposable and reusable dry powder inhalers, convenience kits, pen-injectors, auto-injectors, dispensers and special purpose applicators. Since 2015, he has been an independent consultant supporting pharma companies, suppliers and device innovators across the globe to develop, launch, and maintain their products.

Lothar Habel is working as a study director for extractables and leachables projects at Nelson Labs Europe with a strong focus on parenterals and injectable applica­tions. After his PhD graduation in organic chemistry at the University of Frankfurt am Main (Germany), he spent several years with research projects at universities and private companies in Germany and Belgium, where he gained experience in preparative and analytical organic chemistry. Lothar has a high reputation and expertise in the field of E&L.

Daniel Kehl holds a master’s degree in process engineering. After university, he worked for several years as a project manager with Lonza AG and Lonza Biotech s.r.o. before he founded the pixon Engineering AG. Pixon specialises in planning, re­alising, qualification, and validation of pharma manufacturing facilities. Since 2014, he is the president of strategic issues at pixon. 4 years ago, he set up a new com­pany, Swissfillon AG. Swissfillon is positioning itself as an agile fill & finish CDMO for high value, high potent injectables. As the CEO, his main function is the setting up of the CDMO fill & finish business for fully automatic GMP sterile filling of biophar­maceuticals and high-potent products for clinical material and for the commercial launch of vials, syringes, and cartridges.