Knut brings over 28 years of experience in the Biopharma industry to the table. He has worked on an impressive range of BD&L activities and transactions including over 100 due diligences on the sell as well as buy side in a wide range of therapeutic areas. His BD activities also include company building and financing and while he was leading the BD team for ophthalmology at Novartis for 7 years he helped the franchise to enter new strategic areas in gene therapy and digital therapeutics. His BD role has been complemented by his activities and experiences in R&D, including as global program lead covering all phases from preclinical to post-approval. Knut is currently supporting a early stage biotech company with a phase 1 ready program near Zurich, Virometix, as part-time COO while supporting a number of other clients on BD as well as alliance management projects.

Knut holds a PhD from the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center. He continued his work in immuno-oncology with a Fogarty Fellowship at the NIH-NIAD in the USA. From 1995 on, he worked with two biotech companies in Boston, US in immuno-oncology and cancer vaccines before he joined Novartis in Switzerland in 2002.

Since 2019, Knut was leading the Novartis corporate team of alliance professionals with a portfolio of over 300 alliances. Knut feels passionate about alliances and collaborations and therefore he also supports the industry association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) as board member.