Roche’s Torsten Hoffmann to join Zealand Pharma

Dr Torsten Hoffmann has left his senior role at pharma company Roche to join the Danish biotech Zealand Pharma as chief scientific officer.

Dr Hoffmann (pictured) was head of head of discovery chemistry, pharma research, at Roche – a role he'd held since 2005.

He initially joined the company in 1997 as a laboratory head before working his way up the ranks in early-stage science, and was responsible for the identification of more than 25 drug candidates that entered clinical development.

In his new role at Zealand, Dr Hoffmann joins a more compact company focused on the discovery of drugs in cardio-metabolic diseases, diabetes and obesity.

Its lead product is the GLP-1 agonist lixisenatide, which is licensed to Sanofi who markets it as Lyxumia for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

"These are exciting times for the company following the launch of its first discovered medicine,” commented Dr Hoffmann.

As chief scientific officer, Dr Hoffmann will be expected to further drive innovation and strengthen Zealn's research efforts, which includes collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly.

“Torsten is known for being a strong and collaborative leader and his impressive and impactful scientific record plus wealth of sector experience and innovative ideas will be extremely valuable to our company,” said Zealand's CEO David Solomon.

“I am confident that under his leadership, we can drive Zealand's R&D activities further towards tomorrow's breakthrough peptide therapeutics.”