We interviewed Trudi Haemmerli, CEO and Director at PerioC Ltd, Managing Director of TruStep Consulting GmbH, and member of our selection committee, on her view of the European startup landscape and what she expects from BaseLaunch candidates.
Trudi Haemmerli
What is your view about the Swiss and European startup healthcare ecosystem?
While Switzerland and Europe as a whole can boast a significant number of Big Pharma and Medtech players, the Startup world has much ground to make up versus the Biotech hubs in the US, e.g. Boston. The biggest challenge in Europe, aside from co-location of all the elements needed for startups to feed on which the Basel region offers, is investment, particularly in the Seed phase prior to Venture Capital involvement. I believe it is slowly changing, and we are beginning to see some real successes.
Why do you engage with BaseLaunch?
CTI, of which I am a Commission member for Startups and Entrepreneurship, is a partner of BaseLaunch. After a long career in life sciences, primarily in the region of Basel and mostly in Big Pharma, I have recently transitioned to the startup world and I am excited to play a role in further encouraging and developing the strong life sciences cluster in the Basel region. Companies starting out can definitely take advantage of the talent pool and the supportive local ecosystem.
What do you look for in potential projects?
Ideally, new projects are addressing an important and unmet medical need, and their IP is solid. Essential for a successful project development is a team, that can manage the complex challenges posed during drug development, and that are open to seek and integrate feedback from expert panels across the globe.
About Trudi Haemmerli
Trudi Haemmerli started her career at the Paul Scherrer Institute and then joined Ciba-Geigy. She had a key role during the merger in 1996 to create Novartis and continued her career with increasing responsibility in Regulatory Affairs, and leading the Global Regulatory CMC department for over 5 years. She then moved to the US to run Global Research Operations before returning to Basel in 2010 to help restructure Novartis’ Compliance organisation and policies. In April 2014, she left Novartis to become CEO and Director at PerioC Ltd., a Life Sciences start-up. She is also Managing Director of TruStep Consulting GmbH. She joined as a new member of the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation for Startups and Entrepreneurship (CTI) in January 2016 and has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors for the new Innosuisse that replaces CTI from January 2018. She is also an active Business Angel investor. Trudi Haemmerli studied Chemistry in the UK, completed the ECPM Certification at the University of Basel in 2007 and graduated with the St. Gallen MBA in 2013.
