Dr. Franz Knauseder was an executive employee for decades at Sandoz, a subsidiary of the Novartis AG. As Director for Research and Development he has participated extensively in the development of modern research and production strategies in biotechnology. Until 2000 he was Technical Director of the newly created area “biopharmaceuticals” of Novartis.

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Fischer (CEO) is a biotechnology expert and entrepreneurial pharma manager with a 25 year long record in international biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in Germany (Institute of Molecular Biology), United Kingdom (Department of Protein Engineering/AFRC), Austria (Biomedical Research Center/Baxter, Sandoz/Novartis and Fibrex Medical) and France (Avidis).
He is a specialist in the translational biotechnology-based drug development process and in drug regulatory affairs. Dr. Fischer is an appointed university lecturer in protein chemistry and pharmaceutical drug development. He is co-founder of three life science companies and founder of “Biotechnology Consulting”, a life science business consultancy. Since 2008, Dr. Fischer serves as CEO of APEPTICO.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf Lucas is an internationally respected expert in the field of bio-medicinal research and development. During his research at the University Medical Centre in Geneva (Switzerland), at the Department of Biological Chemistry of the Weizmann Institute (Israel), at the Department of Biochemical Pharmacology of the University of Konstanz (Germany), he has validated pharmacological proteins and peptides in cell-based and animal models.
He has a Professorship at the Vascular Biology Center of the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta (USA) and he was a Chair of Scientific Group "Molecular Pathology and functional genomics" of the European Respiratory Society. Prof. Dr. Lucas is the scientific advisor of APEPTICO.

Prof. Ing. Hermann Mascher is chemist and founder & Managing Director of the pharmaceutical research institute “pharm-analyt Labor” in Baden, Austria. Prof. Mascher has more than 30 years experience in the areas of bio-analytics, drug metabolism and pharmacology.