Duncan has a proven track record in identifying, investing in and growing businesses within the pharmaceutical sector. He was the founder of Aquarius Equity, a specialist investor in businesses within the life sciences sector, which provided investors with access to innovative, high growth potential companies that delivered significant capital growth. Duncan started his career in a bio-science start-up business, which ultimately went on to list on the London Stock Exchange, subsequently qualified as a corporate finance lawyer with Addleshaw Goddard, then Addleshaw Booth & Co, and later joined 3i plc as an investment manager. Duncan founded Aquarius in 2005, which made founding investments into Nanoco Technologies Limited, Auralis Limited (subsequently sold to ViroPharma), Tissue Regenix Group plc, Brabant Pharma (subsequently sold to Zogenix, Inc) and C4X Discovery plc. Duncan is a co-founder of 4D pharma plc and has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2014.
Alex began his career as a microbiologist, working in research for a number of years before joining an NYSE-quoted drug development company. He subsequently moved into pharmaceutical and healthcare investment and has fulfilled a number of board-level investment and operational management roles. He was a director and shareholder in Aquarius Equity from 2008, where he was responsible for identifying new investments and developing and implementing scientific strategies both pre and post-investment. These included Tissue Regenix Group plc, C4X Discovery Holdings plc and Brabant Pharma (subsequently sold to Zogenix, Inc.). Prior to joining Aquarius Equity, Alex worked for IP Group plc, where he specialised in life sciences investments identifying, developing and advising a number of companies in its portfolio, some of which went on to list on AIM. He joined IP Group following its acquisition of Techtran Group Limited in 2005. Alex is a co-founder of 4D pharma plc and has served as Chief Scientific Officer since 2014.
Imke Mulder is the Executive Vice President of Research at 4D pharma Research Ltd in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she leads a multidisciplinary research group of over 30 scientists. After completing her BSc and MSc in Biology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, she moved to Aberdeen in 2001 to pursue her PhD studies at the Department of Zoology, working on the effects of dietary components on the gut immune system. Imke then carried out 8 years of post-doctoral work as a Research Fellow in the Gut Immunology Group at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health (RINH) in Aberdeen. This work primarily focussed on interactions between the gut microbiota and the host immune system in different model organisms. Specific projects investigated how microbial composition and diversity influences early-life development of the mucosal immune system, and the cell-specific signalling pathways and effector molecules involved in driving health-promoting interactions of the gut microbiota. Imke moved to 4D pharma Research Ltd in 2014 where she leads the development of the MicroRx platform for the discovery of new live biotherapeutics.
Adrian has an undergraduate degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Warwick. Since graduating, Adrian qualified as a UK and European Patent and Trade Mark Attorney, as well as being awarded Chartered Chemist / Scientist status. Throughout his career, Adrian has advised all types of life sciences companies right through from start-ups to multinational giants on the development and implementation of IP protection and litigation strategies, advising on some of the sector’s most high profile IP disputes. He has held the role of Senior Patent Counsel in Teva’s in-house patent department and has also spent several years as a Partner in both a boutique patent and trade mark attorney firm, and, more recently, at international law firm Pinsent Masons.
Antonio was the Chief Executive Officer at Instituto Biomar from 2002, leading a group of fermentation specialist and research scientists in microbiology and natural products chemistry. He received his PhD at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, conducting post-doctoral work in the Departments of Cell Biology and Molecular Pathology from the same institution. After this, Antonio worked in the Departments of Tumour Immunology, at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and then Surgical Research at the Children's Hospital, both associated with Harvard Medical School in Boston. He moved back to Spain in 2001, and worked at the research unit in Hospital de Leon from 2001 to 2002, when he joined Instituto Biomar. After the acquisition of Biomar´s production unit by 4D pharma in April 2016, Antonio took up the position of director at 4D pharma Leon.
Lucy is responsible for leading and developing 4D pharma's Human Resources strategy across six countries and two continents, as well as overall HR compliance. She has over a decade of experience in HR Management at R&D-focused companies, including establishing and growing these departments. Lucy has a degree in Law & Management from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, UK, and Associate status with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
