Management

Kristina Torfgård

born 1963
CEO

Dr. Kristina Torfgård has extensive experience in executive management, drug development, regulatory affairs and licensing with major international pharmaceutical companies, including in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. During her time at AstraZeneca, she held senior positions in both early and late-stage R&D and was globally responsible for marketed products. At the biopharmaceutical company Albireo AB/Pharma Inc, she worked as VP Clinical & Regulatory Affairs and VP Global Project Head. Most recently, she was CEO of Alzinova AB (Nasdaq First North Growth Market: ALZ), where she built up the company to bring drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease to the market through partnering. Kristina is a pharmacist and holds a PhD in Medical Science from Linköping University. She is a Board director of GU Ventures, the holding company at the University of Gothenburg..

Holdings: 13,500 Class A shares.

Nicholas Waters

born 1962
Executive Vice President and Head of R&D

Dr. Nicholas Waters worked as a Ph.D. student in Nobel Laureate Professor Arvid Carlsson’s research group at the Department of Pharmacology, Göteborg University (1987-1995). In 1996, Nicholas was awarded the Swedish Brain Foundation award. Between 1995 and 2000, he was managing research collaborations between the University and Pharma Industry partners. In 1998, he co-founded Carlsson Research. In the years 1998-2002, he served as member of the board of directors at Carlsson Research. In 2002, he was appointed Chief Scientific Officer at Carlsson Research and in 2006 he was appointed CEO. In 2006, Carlsson Research was sold to NeuroSearch and changed name to NeuroSearch Sweden. In 2010 he was appointed Executive Vice President, Research at NeuroSearch. Nicholas continued to serve as CEO of NeuroSearch Sweden through 2012. In 2013, Nicholas co-founded IRLAB. During the years 2007-2010 he served as board member of SwedenBIO, the Swedish Biotech industry association. Nicholas holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology. Nicholas served as the CEO of IRLAB between 2016-2022 and in IRLAB Sweden between 2013-2022.

Holdings: 1,340,904 Class A shares and 17,892 series B shares, where 736,200 series A shares and 8,946 series B shares are owned directly. Susanna Holm Waters, whom also is part of IRLAB’s management owns the remainder.

Viktor Siewertz

born 1971
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Viktor Siewertz has his expertise in accounting, financing and business development as well as M&A and ECM transactions with more than 25 years’ experience from working with mid-sized companies. His experience spans from auditing and assurance within Deloitte, portfolio company support (financing and business development) within venture capital firm Speed Ventures and corporate finance within HSH Nordbank, Handelsbanken and Consensus Asset Management as a project leader and management focusing on M&A, capital procurement and ECM transactions. In 2013, he co-founded a corporate finance boutique and started working with the financing of IRLAB as a consultant. He was appointed COO in 2016 to project lead the IPO and was appointed CFO in 2017. Siewertz holds an LLM (contract law, corporate law and tax law) and an M.Sc. in Accounting and Finance (transactions and securitization) from the Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law.

Ongoing assignments: Board member in his own companies Vestigium AB, Investigium AB and Slavestigium AB and in Operatio Finis AB. Deputy board member in Ignavia AB, HyrMax Rental AB, Moorgate Investment AB, Töreboda Vind AB and ContentMap Holding AB.

Holdings: 233,965 Class A shares directly and via legal entity and relatives.

Clas Sonesson

born 1961
Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)

Dr. Clas Sonesson started his career at AkzoNobel (former Berol Kemi 1986-1989) as organic chemist developing new surfactants for enhanced oil recovery in the North Sea. In 1989, he was appointed a position as medicinal chemist in Nobel Laureate Professor Arvid Carlsson’s research group at the Department of Pharmacology, Göteborg University. In 1990, he became a Ph.D. student (1990-1995) and between 1995 and 2000 he was managing research collaborations between the university and pharma industry partners. In 1998, he co-founded Carlsson Research and between 1998 and 2002 he served as member of the board of directors at Carlsson Research. In 2000, he was appointed Head of Medicinal Chemistry and in 2002 Director of Chemistry and IP (2002-2006). During this period, Clas was also responsible for CMC in three development projects which also continued after NeuroSearch’s acquisition of Carlsson Research. In 2006, (2006-2009) Clas was appointed Director of Chemistry and IP at NeuroSearch Sweden. In 2009, Clas was appointed Head of Discovery (NeuroSearch Sweden 2009-2011) and thereafter served as VP, Chemistry & IP (NeuroSearch, 2011-2012). In 2013, Clas co-founded IRLAB. Clas holds a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry.

Holdings: 748,589 Class A shares and 8,946 series B shares.

Joakim Tedroff

born 1961
Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

Dr. Joakim Tedroff is a consultant neurologist specializing in neurodegenerative disorders. He is also an associate professor of neurology at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet. Joakim has more than 20 years of experience from the pharmaceutical industry with extensive experience conducting clinical research from Phase 1-3 clinical studies. He was co-founder of Carlsson Research and in 2013 he co-founded IRLAB. He previously held a position as CMO at A. Carlsson Research AB, and as scientific Vice President at NeuroSearch. He has been a director of Stockholm Brain Institute, XBrane Biopharma, Integrative Research Laboratories AB and served as chairman of Abera Bioscience. Joakim has also served as a consultant for a number of pharmaceutical companies in the neurology field including Allergan, Orion, Pfizer, Abbvie and Lundbeck as well as for venture capital firms in life science projects.

Holdings: 706,339 Class A shares and 8,946 series B shares, and 8,049 subscription warrants, corresponding to 40,245 Class A shares, in person and via companies/related parties.

Susanna Holm Waters

born 1966
Director of Systems Pharmacology

Dr. Susanna Holm Waters was enrolled in Nobel Laureate Professor Arvid Carlsson’s research group at the Department of Pharmacology, Göteborg University in 1993, and has since then worked with research and clinical development in the areas of CNS pharmacology and drug discovery, pharmacokinetics, clinical pharmacology, and basic clinical research, in the setting of collaborations with big pharmaceutical companies as well as academia, with a focus on computational biology applications. She has also engaged in clinical work, as physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (2015-2019). Susanna was co-founder of Carlsson Research, where she served as Director of Computational Biology and Biostatistics 2000-2006. She was Director of Molecular Biology and Pharmacokinetics at NeuroSearch Sweden 2007-2010, and thereafter served as Director of Biology 2011-2012. She is part of the management team at IRLAB since 2013, serving as director of Biology& Biostatistics until 2022, when she was appointed Director of Systems Pharmacology. Susanna holds an MD and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology. Susanna is a co-founder of IRLAB.

Holdings: 1,340,904 Class A shares and 17,892 Class B shares, where 604,704 Class A shares and 8,946 Class B shares are owned directly. Nicholas Waters, whom also is part of IRLAB’s management, owns the remainder.

Peder Svensson
born 1962
Director of Computational Chemistry & Biology and Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Dr. Peder Svensson moved from University of Gothenburg to Astra Hässle in Mölndal (later AstraZeneca R&D Mölndal) in 1992. He worked as Computational Chemist in cardiovascular and gastrointestinal research for eight years. He joined Carlsson Research in 2000 as Head of Computational Chemistry & CIO. He continued in this role in the new organization in NeuroSearch Sweden until 2011 when he was appointed Director of Computational Chemistry & Biology, IT. Peder is a co-founder of IRLAB and holds a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry.

Holdings: 252,979 Class A shares and 8,946 Class B shares directly and via relatives.