About Us

Mark Gaffney

Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board

Mark is the CEO and member of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in corporate strategy, business development, and operations within the biotechnology sector.

Before joining Calluna Pharma, Mark served as the CEO of Oxular Limited, a company developing novel drug delivery and formulation technologies to treat retinal disorders, which was acquired by Regeneron in late 2024.

Prior to his role at Oxular Limited, Mark was the CBO and later COO at Vedere Bio, a company developing next generation ocular gene therapies, which was acquired by Novartis in late 2020. Mark’s experience also includes leadership positions in corporate development and legal  at Cyclerion Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Mark started his career as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.  Mark’s analytical problem-solving approach stems from his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering and from Boston University in law.

Jonas Hallén MD PhD

Chief Medical Officer

Jonas is the CMO of Calluna Pharma with over 10 years’ experience in drug development and various medical roles in the pharmaceutical industry at Boehringer Ingelheim, Pronova BioPharma and Novartis.

Before Calluna Pharma’s formation, Jonas co-founded Arxx Therapeutics where he served as a Chief Medical & Development Officer. While at Boehringer Ingelheim, he was part of the team that launched Pradaxa – the first novel oral anticoagulant approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. At Pronova, he led the development of icosabutate, a lipid lowering agent with powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects, through clinical proof-of-concept. At Novartis, Jonas was the medical lead for a Phase 3b trial of serelaxin in acute heart failure and also worked on real-world evidence studies to inform drug development programs and market strategies in the Nordics.

Jonas holds an MD from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD in cardiovascular disease from the University of Oslo.

John Montana PhD

Interim Chief Scientific Officer

John is an Operating Parter at Forbion and is currently serving as the interim-CSO of Calluna Pharma, bringing over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and early development across the pharmaceutical, biotech and contract research sectors.

Prior to serving as the interim CEO during the formation of Calluna Pharma, John was the COO and later CEO of Oxitope Pharma B.V., overseeing the 2024 merger with Arxx Therapeutics. Before joining Oxitope Pharma B.V., John was Corporate Vice President of Integrated Drug Discovery at Charles River Labs (CRL), where he managed all aspects of partnered drug discovery projects from initial business development to the delivery of clinical candidates. Before CRL, he spent a decade at Argenta, first as CSO and later as Managing Director, driving the scientific strategy and operational growth. John played a key role in the sale of Argenta to Galapagos in 2010 and its subsequent acquisition by CRL in 2014.

John’s earlier career includes founding Amedis, where he became CSO following its merger with Paradigm Therapeutics, leading to a CNS research collaboration with Takeda and the creation of Takeda Cambridge UK. He began his career at Glaxo and later joined Chiroscience, where he advanced to Research Director and then Director of NCE Research after its acquisition by Celltech.

John holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of East Anglia.

Margrethe Sørgaard

SVP Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance

Margrethe is the Senior VP Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance at Calluna Pharma bringing over 25 years’ experience from different leading positions in clinical development & operation, medical affairs, medical information and drug safety/pharmacovigilance across pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Before joining Calluna, Margrethe served as the Senior Director of Safety and PV at BioInvent International AB, supporting product safety and assuring safety standards were compliant with global drug safety regulations. Prior to this, Margrethe was the VP and Head of Clinical Development at Circio Holding ASA and has previously gained experience in regulatory pre-and post-marketing processes and quality assurance, by serving as an EU Qualified Person for Pharmacovigilance (QPPV) while at Photocure ASA, and Head of Unit for Safety Assessment and GCP/PhV inspector at the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA).

Margrethe holds an MSc in Biology (Physiology) from the University of Oslo.

Berte Poulsson

SVP Operations

Berte is the SVP Operations at Calluna Pharma, having previously served as VP Quality Assurance at Arxx Therapeutics. She brings nearly 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, with a strong background in Quality, Regulatory, and CMC.

Before joining Arxx Therapeutics, Berte worked for Bayer AS and legacy Algeta ASA , initially as project coordinator within the areas of Quality, Regulatory and CMC, before moving into Quality Assurance, where she served as Head of QA Systems and Operations for Development Products. Berte was also approved as Qualified Person (QP) for both the marketed product Xofigo, and for the radiopharmaceutical development products in Bayer. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical development industry, Berte was an assessor for the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA), focusing on public funding and pricing of medicines.

Berte holds an MSc Pharm from the University of Oslo.

Mark Altmeyer

Chair person

Mark serves as Chairperson of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 30 years of invaluable experience as a pharmaceutical executive, spearheading successful drug commercialization endeavors. While having broad experience across many therapeutic categories, he has specific expertise in central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Mark is also currently on the boards of AM-Pharma, Novaremed, Merz Therapeutics, Aculys, and Alector.  Mark was formerly the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer at Arvelle Therapeutics where he guided the company through its development and eventual acquisition by Angelini. He also held the role of Executive Director on Arvelle’s Board of Directors.

Prior to this, Mark served as President and Chief Commercial Officer at Axovant Sciences, where he where he built global commercial capabilities and prepared for the launch of pipeline products.

Mark was previously President and CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies, where he went on to Chair its Board, and Senior Vice President of Global Commercialization: Oncology and Neuroscience of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mark holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and a BA in economics from Middlebury College.

Marco Boorsma PhD

Board member

Marco is a General Partner at Forbion and joined the team in 2007. He has a special interest in bringing his biotechnology, operations, business development, and investment experience from both small and large businesses to the portfolio, and to establish and manage new companies as part of Forbion’s build strategy. He was the founding CEO of VectorY Therapeutics and instrumental in the launch and financing of multiple “Forbion build” companies. He has served on the boards of several pre- and clinical-stage companies in Europe and North America, a number of which have been either acquired for over a billion bio-dollars or listed on Nasdaq.

Before joining Forbion, Marco was Business Development Director at DSM Pharmaceutical Products, managing biomanufacturing technologies and contract manufacturing projects, and he developed manufacturing processes for biosimilars at Cytos Biotechnology.

Marco has an MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Groningen and holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the ETH Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland.

Antoine Boulanger PhD

Board member

Antoine is Principal at Forbion, where he sources, leads, and manages investments. In that capacity, he is board director at Calluna Pharma and Mestag Therapeutics, as well as board observer at Rectify Pharma, Azafaros and Armgo Pharma.

Prior to joining Forbion, Antoine was involved in life sciences equity research and worked with the BDC Healthcare Venture Fund in Canada, supporting due diligence processes. Antoine was previously the due diligence lead on Versanis Bio (acquired by Eli Lilly), board observer at Inversago Pharma (acquired by Novo Nordisk) and board observer at Dyne Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DYN).

Antoine holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine from Laval University in Canada.

Susanne Stuffers MD PhD

Board member

Susanne is the Founding Partner and CEO of p53, and has supported life science companies in different phases of development, from start-ups to late clinical stages, and has experience from financial markets including private placements and IPOs.

Susanne was previously on the Board of Arxx Therapeutics and served as a management consultant in healthcare (public and private) and life sciences at EY, followed by medical and commercial roles at Novartis. She also previously worked as an equity analyst covering the healthcare sector at Artic Securities, before co-founding and leading p53 with T.D. Veen.

Susanne holds an MD degree from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, and a PhD in Cancer Biomedicine from the Norwegian Radiumhospital.

Farzad Abdi-Dezfuli PhD

Board member

Farzad is a founding partner at Sarsia and brings 30 years of drug development expertise and management from large global pharma and early-stage companies.

Farzad’s experience spans national and global preclinical and clinical drug development initiatives including being a Board member of Arxx Therapeutics AS, which later evolved into Calluna Pharma.

In addition to receiving training in entrepreneurial business financing from London Business School, Farzad obtained his doctoral training in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, UK and postdoctoral training from Haukeland University Hospital Bergen, Norway.

Mark Gaffney

Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board

Mark is the CEO and member of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in corporate strategy, business development, and operations within the biotechnology sector.

Before joining Calluna Pharma, Mark served as the CEO of Oxular Limited, a company developing novel drug delivery and formulation technologies to treat retinal disorders, where he remains a strategic advisor and Board member

Prior to his role at Oxular Limited, Mark was the CBO and later COO at Vedere Bio, a company developing next generation ocular gene therapies, which was acquired by Novartis in late 2020. Mark’s experience also includes leadership positions in corporate development and legal  at Cyclerion Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Mark started his career as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.  Mark’s analytical problem-solving approach stems from his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering and from Boston University in law.

Sveinung Hole

Observer to the Board

Sveinung brings experience from business development, corporate finance as well as investment management. Sveinung has managed large turn-around processes, negotiated trade sales and been lead investor/board member in IPOs.

He has extensive leadership-, board- and chair experience from VC-funds, listed companies, private companies and foundations. Sveinung has also held public engagements like heading “HelseOmsorg21-rådet” and been on the board of “Helse Bergen HF”.

Prior to (re-)joining Sarsia Sveinung headed the largest research funding foundations of Norway.