Neurimmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company building next generation antibody therapeutics. The company pioneers amyloid depletion as a novel therapeutic mechanism to treat CNS and related protein aggregation diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ATTR cardiomyopathy.
Human Antibodies for Heart and Brain
Neurimmune has discovered multiple first‑in‑class therapeutic antibodies, including the anti‑ATTR antibody cliramitug (formerly ALXN2220, NI006) for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, the anti‑SOD1 antibody AP‑101 for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the anti‑Nogo‑A antibody NG004 for spinal cord injury. These programs are currently being evaluated in clinical trials. Neurimmune’s anti‑amyloid light chain antibody NI009 and its bispecific amyloid‑beta‑targeting antibody NI101B3 are in preclinical development.
Reverse Translational Medicine™ - a Neurimmune core technology platform - leverages genetic blueprints derived from immune cells of elderly human subjects to generate fully human therapeutic antibodies. This approach enables the discovery of antibodies with unique pharmacological properties, combining high affinity and target selectivity with favourable pharmacodynamics and a low risk of immunogenicity.
Our Business
The company operates under a highly entrepreneurial business model that enables independent decision‑making enabling laser-focused drug development with long-term investment horizons. Neurimmune engages in selective strategic partnerships for late‑stage clinical development and commercialization, while retaining autonomy over early innovation and portfolio direction. This partnering strategy provides non‑dilutive financing to support drug development, research and operations.
To present, Neurimmune has partnered selected programs with AstraZeneca, TVM Capital, Pueros Bioventures, and Ono Pharmaceutical. The company maintains a broad network of research collaborations with leading academic institutions and biotechnology companies.
Neurimmune was founded in 2006 as a spin‑off from the University of Zurich by Roger Nitsch, Christoph Hock, and Jan Grimm, following encouragement and strategic advice from serial biotech entrepreneur Karsten Henco (Qiagen, Evotec, Coley, U3).
Neurimmune’s scientists and clinical experts are committed to delivering meaningful therapeutic impact through rigorous, science-driven innovation.
Roger M. Nitsch, CEO & President
Neurimmune’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee leverage their extensive track record in protein aggregation diseases, clinical development, and life science partnering to drive the company’s next phase of innovation and future growth.
Board of Directors and Executive Committee
Roger M. Nitsch, MD
CEO & President
Roger M. Nitsch serves as CEO & President of Neurimmune, which he founded in 2006 together with Jan Grimm and Christoph Hock. A neuroscientist with a background in medicine, Roger is recognized as an opinion leader in neurodegenerative diseases with over 30 years of experience in biotech and as a pioneer in the development of therapeutic approaches for protein aggregation diseases. A Potamkin Prize winner, Member of the German Academy of Sciences and Professor Emeritus at University of Zurich, Roger served as a founding director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Zurich.
Christoph Hock, MD
CMO & Director
Christoph Hock is a board-certified psychiatrist and an internationally recognized expert on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. He co-founded Neurimmune in 2006 and acts as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Previously, Christoph served as Vice-President Medicine and Science on the executive board of the University of Zurich, and as member of the Swiss National Science Foundation's Research Council. He currently holds a part-time professorship on Biological Psychiatry at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IREM), University of Zurich.
Jan Grimm, PhD
CSO & Director
Jan Grimm is a neuroscientist with 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development in US and European biotech. Jan co-founded Neurimmune in 2006, and served as the company's founding CEO. Before joining Neurimmune he led the Alzheimer’s disease research efforts at Rinat Neuroscience Corp. in San Francisco that was acquired by Pfizer in 2006. He received a PhD degree from Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and Humboldt University Berlin.
Alfred W Sandrock, MD, PhD
Director
Alfred W. Sandrock is recognized as an outstanding industry leader who brought numerous transformational therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases to patients. He spearheaded the development of Tysabri®, Tecfidera®, Spinraza®, and Plegridy®. Al serves as the CEO of Voyager Therapeutics. In his 23-year career at Biogen, Al served in various functions including as an Executive Committee Member, Head of Research & Development and CMO. He holds an MD degree from Harvard Medical School and a PhD degree from Harvard University.
Fabian Buller, PhD
CBO
Fabian Buller is a biotech executive with 15 years of professional experience in biotech and pharma. Prior to joining Neurimmune in 2018, Fabian served as Director New Ventures at Johnson & Johnson Innovation as well as Director Business Development of Covagen AG. He was instrumental in securing a number of major Biotech-Pharma deals including M&A and licensing transactions with J&J, AstraZeneca, Ono and Mitsubishi Tanabe. Fabian holds a PhD degree from the Institute of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich.
Dirk Schimkat, lic.rer.pol.
CFO
Dirk Schimkat is an economist with more than 25 years of experience in corporate finance in life sciences, the consumer goods industry, telecommunications and healthcare. Before joining Neurimmune in 2008, he held a senior position at Beiersdorf’s La Prairie Group in Zurich. Dirk earned his graduate degree in economy in 1998 from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Michael Salzmann, PhD
COO
Michael Salzmann held several national and international positions as senior executive at ETH, Bruker and Roche. He graduated in physics and chemistry, and earned a PhD in biophysics from the ETH Zürich, where he studied with Nobel Laureate Kurt Wüthrich at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biophysics. In 2018, Michael was recognized Corporate Professional of The Year by the Annual EMEA Corporate Development Awards (London, UK). He joined Neurimmune as COO in 2008 and serves since 2016 as CEO of AL-S Pharma. Prior to his appointment at Neurimmune,
John Dellapa, Jur.D.
General Counsel
John Dellapa is an executive corporate lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in the life science industry. Before joining Neurimmune in 2019, John was a member at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, an AmLaw 100 law firm widely recognized for its outstanding life sciences practice. Prior to joining Mintz Levin, he served for 9 years as group general counsel at Fisher Scientific International, Inc. John holds a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University and Bachelor’s degree in management from Boston College.