Holger Kissel

SVP Corporate Strategy at BioNTech

Speaker

Holger Kissel, Ph.D., serves as Senior Vice President Scientific Relations & Liaison at BioNTech. Being a part of the Company since 2013, he assumed this role in 2023. With an extensive background in business development and licensing, he is dedicated to advancing global health initiatives and fostering public-private partnerships. In his previous roles as Vice President Business Alliances and Director Business Development at BioNTech, Holger played a pivotal role in establishing the Company’s extensive corporate and scientific network, resulting in numerous in- and out-licensing deals, including collaborations with Genentech and Pfizer. The latter resulted in the joint development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, Holger was responsible for managing key collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as academic partners. Prior to joining BioNTech, Holger served as the Head of Oncology Program as part of the Global Business Development team at Taconic Biosciences GmbH, where he led strategic initiatives to position the company as a leading contract research organization in pre-clinical cancer research. Holger holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Hamburg. Conducting research at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York during his Ph.D. and working as a postdoctoral researcher at Rockefeller University in New York, he brings a wealth of scientific expertise to his role.