Lena Biosciences, an ATDC Accelerate portfolio company, announced Dr. Eckhard von Keutz has joined its board of directors. Dr. von Keutz is a pharmaceutical subject matter expert with decades of experience in drug discovery and development. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and head of translational sciences at Bayer Pharmaceuticals where he spearheaded global activities for pre-clinical and early clinical drug development including translational medicine, toxicology, safety pharmacology, DMPK, and animal management. 
 
He was also a lead decision-maker for non-clinical safety matters. Prior to that, Dr. von Keutz was the global head of early development at Bayer Healthcare where he designed and executed toxicological testing strategies for 50+ projects which were successfully transferred from pre-clinical to clinical development. His prior positions also include the Head of Pharma-Toxicology Institute, and the Head of Research Toxicology all with Bayer AG. 
 
“Drug-induced liver injury has been a major problem for patients, pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies. The advances Lena Biosciences has made to begin to solve this problem are remarkable,” Dr. von Keutzsaid. “I am delighted to help the company position its products for drug-induced liver injury and provide strategic and operational support to execute the business plan.” 
 
His joining the board comes at a time when the in vitro toxicology market is showing early, but consistent signs of an emerging technological revolution. Investments in new therapeutic modalities which work only in humans, coupled with growing needs for new alternative methods to reliably protect human health while reducing the use of animals to meet sustainable development goals, are indicators of potential future demand for human-relevant in vitro products, the company said. 
 
“We are very excited to be able to work with Dr. Eckhard von Keutz who has led and inspired multi-disciplinary teams to establish and implement innovative strategies which met industrial and regulatory requirements,” said Jelena Vukasinovic, Lena Biosciences CEO. “Orienting the business and positioning the products to meet this need while being mindful about specific requirements of industrial and regulatory stakeholders is our high priority. This is why we are extremely pleased to work with a forward-thinking subject matter expert in this field, Dr. von Keutz.”