BRIEF—Heavyweight of Nordic life sciences takes over at Umecrine Cognition

Karolinska Development has announced that the board of directors of portfolio company Umecrine Cognition has recruited Anders Karlsson to be its new chief executive.

Mr Karlsson has extensive experience in leading operational roles and board work within the Swedish and international life science industry, including roles as the chief executive of Idogen, Absorber and as chief executive of pharma giant Novartis’ Norwegian operations.

His recruitment is aimed at strengthening Umecrine's management team with additional competence in commercialization as the company moves to start Phase II trials on its drug candidate golexanolone, a new class of drug that modulates the activity of the GABAA receptor in order to counteract cognitive impairment associated with liver disease and associated inflammation of the brain.

He succeeds Magnus Doverskog, who will become Umecrine's chief scientific officer.