Labiotech.eu has chosen to highlight 20 women they think are making an impact in the European biotech industry, and among them is Carina Schmidt, the CEO of Athera Biotechnologies.

Like many technological fields, people with leading roles in big biotech companies have been predominantly male. Nowadays, female representation in biotech leadership roles is slowly increasing, and there are many highly qualified women either leading biotech companies or working in senior management roles, states Labiotech.eu.

The only Nordic CEO on the list

Carina Schmidt, CEO of the Swedish company Athera Biotechnologies, a biotech that focuses on treating cardiovascular disease, is the only Nordic CEO on this list. “Schmidt is an old hand at running life science businesses, with experience from over 30 years in this sector. She has spent a big chunk of that time founding and leading two Swedish life science companies — Grasp Bioscience in 2000 and BioBusiness Partners Scandinavia in 2006,” reports Labiotech.eu.

Since 2007, she has been the CEO of Athera. Founded in 2005, the company is developing therapeutic antibodies, and its lead treatment is in phase II for the treatment of heart failure.