Hanns-Christian Mahler
CEO, ten23 health
Mahler is the CEO and a board member at ten23 health. He previously led the drug product services business unit at Lonza AG, and has worked in leadership roles at Roche and Merck KGaA. He has extensive expertise in formulation development, process development and validation, packaging/device development and integration, sterile manufacturing, and regulatory submissions with numerous IND/IMPD and BLAs.
Mahler studied pharmacy at the University of Mainz, Germany, and holds a PhD in toxicology from the Institute of Pharmacy, University of Mainz. With qualifications in Business and Marketing from the AKAD University of Germany, Mahler obtained his venia legendi from the University of Frankfurt in 2010 and is an adjunct faculty member and lecturer at the universities of Frankfurt and Basel. He also serves as Editor for Pharmaceutical Research, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, AAPS Open Journal and PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology.
We asked…
If you weren’t in the pharma industry, what would you be doing?
Being a pharmacist, I could also work in retail pharmacy and/or as an academic. The dissemination of knowledge has always been a high priority for me. As a few people may know, I was also previously a cofounder and co-managing director of a record label, so the music industry could be a quite different sector for me.
Do you have any strong opinions with which the rest of the field tends to disagree?
Pharmaceutical sciences remain full of urban myths and beliefs. Many controlled studies are lacking in some fundamental considerations, such as what is an acceptable subcutaneous injection volume? My motivation is and always has been to question textbook knowledge, to assess based on primary studies and information, and to generate such studies in lieu of publicly available research.
What was the most serendipitous moment in your career?
My professional life has been full of surprises and coincidences. I was blessed with many great line managers, who tasked me to create, to conceptualize, to ideate, to question, and to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I am very happy that one of my previous managers sits on our board of directors at ten23 health.
