BioNTech announced that the Supervisory Board has appointed James Ryan, Ph.D., to the Management Board as Chief Legal Officer (CLO), effective September 1, 2023.

As part of the Management Board, James Ryan will continue to lead the Company’s corporate legal strategy and global legal operations including transactions, corporate governance, securities, intellectual property (IP), insurance, data privacy, among others. Prior to his appointment to the Management Board, James Ryan served as the Company’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President Legal & IP.

“We are looking forward to welcoming James Ryan to the Management Board. Since joining BioNTech in 2018, he has been a trusted advisor and a proven senior leader, given his extensive global experience across key healthcare legal and compliance domains,” said Helmut Jeggle, Chairman of the BioNTech Supervisory Board.

“James Ryan has played a pivotal role in BioNTech’s development from a private business into a globally integrated biopharmaceutical company. He combines scientific and legal expertise in an extraordinary manner, contributing to BioNTech’s continued success and growth trajectory. We also value James for his contributions to strengthen BioNTech’s unique culture and his commitment to continue to do so in the future.”

“BioNTech is entering a decisive phase in the Company’s transformation. As our pipeline candidates move into later stages of clinical development, we are working towards trials with registrational potential and focus on building commercial capabilities for potential market launches,” said James Ryan, Senior Vice President Legal & IP and Chief Legal Officer-designate at BioNTech. “I believe BioNTech has a unique opportunity to contribute to improving the health of people worldwide and I am looking forward to help accomplish this crucial mission as part of the Management Board.”

Ryan has nearly 20 years of global legal and IP expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined BioNTech in July 2018. Since then, he has guided the Company through a wide range of key business, IP and transactional activities, equity capital markets transactions including the Company’s IPO in 2019, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic collaborations. He and his teams played a pivotal role in the successful development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, supporting every aspect of the program, its launch and commercialization.

Ryan has a Ph.D. in epigenetics from the University of St Andrews, is a member of the Law Society of England & Wales and is a member of the Law Society of Ireland.