Executive Committee

Peter Willinger is responsible for the company’s finances, capital market measures, investor relations, HR management, mergers & acquisitions and corporate investments. He studied business management at the Vocational Academy in Mannheim. Peter Willinger started his career as controller at Rudolf Wild GmbH & Co KG in Heidelberg and later moved to LION bioscience AG. There, he was involved in the IPO and several of the company's capital increases. In November 2004, he was appointed as Board member of LION. In this role, he was responsible for the company’s successful restructuring and realignment and in particular for the sale of the bio-informatics division as well as for the acquisition of SYGNIS Bioscience GmbH & Co. KG.

As Chief Medical Officer Dr. Frank Rathgeb is responsible for the planning process and management of clinical and regulatory drug development. Moreover, he leads the selection and management of cooperation partners in the development process, as well as the analysis of clinical in-licensing opportunities. Dr. Rathgeb studied medicine at the Universities of Hohenheim and Freiburg. He holds board certifications in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine as well as clinical pharmacology. Prior to joining SYGNIS in April 2008 he worked for Altana Pharma. Dr. Rathgeb has over 18 years of experience in drug development which includes the development of drug candidates from preclinical stages through to US and EU regulatory approval.

Dr. Franz-Werner Haas is responsible for all legal affairs, patents, human resources, licensing, corporate development and investor relations. Dr. Haas studied law in Saarbrücken, Leuven and Edinburgh (LL.M.) and obtained his doctorate at the Europa-Institute, Saarbrücken. Following his studies, he was as personal adviser to the Management Board of SLH Group, Bremerhaven and General Counsel of the Sirona Group, Bensheim. In 2002 Dr. Haas moved to LION bioscience AG, where he held the role of Global General Counsel. In this role he was in particular responsible for the company’s listing on the German and US (NASDAQ) stock exchanges and, implemented, together with the Management Board, successfully the restructuring and realignment measures initiated at the end of 2004.

Dr. Armin Schneider is responsible for the company’s research programme aimed at developing new treatment methods for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). His efforts are guided by a thorough understanding of CNS disease pathology as well as insight into clinical problems and needs.

Dr. Schneider studied medicine in Heidelberg and at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston (USA), and worked in clinical neurology at the University of Heidelberg. He did his doctoral thesis with honors at the Heidelberg Centre for Molecular Biology (ZMBH). Dr. Schneider obtained the venia legendi for physiology at the University of Heidelberg in 2005.

Dr. Schneider is author of more than 60 scientific publications in the field of molecular neurobiology and neuropharmacology, with his work appearing in such highly-regarded international journals as Nature, Nature Medicine, Science, PNAS and JCI. He is listed as the inventor on over 15 patents or patent applications and has coordinated multiple research network grants for the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).