– GERMANY, Rostock – Centogene N.V. (Nasdaq: CNTG), a commercial-stage company focused on rare diseases that transforms real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies, today announced the appointment of Dr. Andrin Oswald, M.D., as CEO effective on December 1, 2020, succeeding founder, Prof. Arndt Rolfs who has decided to step down as CEO as of October 20, 2020.
“Dr. Oswald is an accomplished leader in healthcare with a strong track record of building global companies focused on purpose, innovation and excellence,” said Board Chairman, Dr. Flemming Ørnskov. “With his extensive, over 20-year professional experience across the life sciences, including in diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, he brings valuable experience and knowledge as well as an extensive network which can contribute to further scaling and accelerating CENTOGENE’s growth as a leader in the rare diseases space.”
Dr. Ørnskov added, “On behalf of the Supervisory Board and all employees, I’d like to thank Arndt for everything he has helped CENTOGENE achieve over the last 16 years, and we are pleased that he will remain available to us as an advisor during the transition period. Arndt has been instrumental in building CENTOGENE’s unique capabilities, including its vast and complex biological data resources in rare diseases which enable better and faster clinical diagnoses and drug development. His unique expertise and personal drive have created significant value for patients and positioned the Company for continued growth and success, and we are grateful for his guidance and support in preparing for this transition.”
Under Prof. Rolfs’ leadership, CENTOGENE has evolved from its inception in 2006 into what is now the world’s leading partner and knowledge resource for diagnosis and research around rare diseases. CENTOGENE is a global company that employs over 500 experts and contributors from over 50 nations and helps transform real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies.
“It has been a great honor to lead this groundbreaking Company for 16 years, and I am proud of all we as a team have accomplished for patients with rare genetic diseases around the world,” commented Prof. Arndt Rolfs. “CENTOGENE has a clear mission and a committed and excellent team that will help drive a very exciting future for the Company. Our recently updated guidance speaks to the team’s so valuable contributions and the strength and agility of the business, which continues to recover nicely from the impact of COVID-19. I have decided that the Company is now in a great position to enter into a new phase of its journey and that this is a good time to allow new leadership to shape its future. I intend to participate in its future as a shareholder and look forward to working closely with the management team to ensure a smooth transition for the benefit of our patients, employees, partners, shareholders, and other stakeholders, as CENTOGENE continues to play a critical role in how we diagnose and treat rare diseases.”
About Dr. Andrin Oswald
Dr. Oswald was most recently the Delegate for COVID-19 Vaccines and Immunotherapies for the Federal Government of Switzerland, helping develop response and procurement strategies while advising the Swiss government on key decisions.
Prior to that, he was Director of Life Science Industry Engagement and Partnerships at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a role he held for four years in which he led the Foundation’s engagement with the industry and supported teams in developing and advancing its Global Health and Development priorities in R&D and delivery technologies. Before his role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he oversaw business integration at GlaxoSmithKline, working directly with the CEO to advise on business and integration strategy. Before joining GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Oswald spent more than 10 years in a variety of leadership roles at Novartis, including serving as Assistant to the Chairman and CEO of Novartis International AG; Country President for Novartis South Korea; Head of Global Development Franchises and a member of the Executive Committee for Novartis Pharma; and ultimately, CEO/Division Head of Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics and a member of the Novartis Executive Committee, based in Boston. Dr. Oswald began his career in 1999 with McKinsey & Company, where he worked in various roles managing relationships and supporting projects with leading pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies in Europe and the U.S.
“I am pleased to join CENTOGENE at such an exciting time in the Company’s evolution,” said Dr. Oswald. “With Prof. Arndt Rolfs’ leadership, CENTOGENE has created a unique proprietary platform focused on improving medical diagnosis and delivering better outcomes for patients with rare diseases. I look forward to leading the Company’s continued expansion and leveraging its superior disease insights to help develop life-changing therapies for the many patients affected by thousands of rare and often devastating illnesses.”
Throughout his career, Dr. Oswald has also served on several boards, including the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development in Basel, Switzerland; the Global Health Innovation Technology Fund in Tokyo, Japan; and the Global Health Investment Corporation, where he was also a founding member.
About CENTOGENE
CENTOGENE engages in diagnosis and research around rare diseases transforming real-world clinical and genetic data into actionable information for patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies. Our goal is to bring rationality to treatment decisions and to accelerate the development of new orphan drugs by using our extensive rare disease knowledge, including epidemiological and clinical data, as well as innovative biomarkers. CENTOGENE has developed a global proprietary rare disease platform based on our real-world data repository with over 3.6 billion weighted data points from approximately 570,000 patients representing over 120 different countries as of August 31, 2020.
The Company’s platform includes epidemiologic, phenotypic, and genetic data that reflects a global population, and also a biobank of these patients’ blood samples. CENTOGENE believes this represents the only platform that comprehensively analyzes multi-level data to improve the understanding of rare hereditary diseases, which can aid in the identification of patients and improve our pharmaceutical partners’ ability to bring orphan drugs to the market. As of August 31, 2020, the Company collaborated with over 40 pharmaceutical partners covering over 45 different rare diseases.
For more information: https://www.centogene.com/
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