Senior management

Senior Management

Michael Engsig

Michael Engsig

Chief Executive Officer

Michael joined Nykode Therapeutics in 2017. He is a broadly anchored pharmaceutical professional with extensive experience, from early-stage drug discovery to late-stage development and product launches in biotech and pharma and across all major geographical areas. His career history includes specialist and managerial roles at Takeda and Nycomed. Michael holds a civil engineering (MSc) degree in chemistry specializing in biotechnology from the Technical University of Denmark, and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (HD) in organization and leadership from the Copenhagen Business School (CBS).

Agnete B. Fredriksen

Chief Scientific Officer & Co-founder

Tolerance, Innovation and Business Development -- Agnete is a co-founder of Nykode Therapeutics and has served in various roles including Chief Scientific Officer from 2007-2021, leading our scientific strategy. Her previous employers include Affitech AS and Medinnova AS. She is the author of numerous scientific papers in the field of immunology, immunotherapy and vaccines, and has been awarded several patents in the field of immunotherapy. Agnete holds an MSc and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Immunology, Rikshospitalet Medical Center in Oslo, where she designed and developed the first Vaccibody™ vaccine molecules. She received the King’s Gold Medal of Merit for her Ph.D. thesis describing vaccibodies.

Harald Gurvin

Harald Gurvin

Chief Financial Officer

Finance, IT and Investor Relations -- With a long career in the field of finance, Harald joined Nykode Therapeutics in 2021 as CFO. Most recently, he was CFO at Flex LNG, a company owning and operating LNG carriers and listed on both the New York and Oslo Stock Exchanges. Previously, he was CFO in SFL Corporation Limited, a leading international ship-owning company listed on the NYSE. Harald also holds a MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance from CASS Business School and a MSc in Marine Engineering and Naval Architecture from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Klaus Edvardsen

Chief Research & Development Officer

Klaus joined Nykode Therapeutics in 2022. He has extensive experience from leading drug development programs within oncology, hematology and infectious diseases in both biotech and pharma companies. His previous roles include Chief Development Officer of CureVac, and Senior Vice President and Head of Global Oncology Development of Merck KGaA, where he led early- and late-stage global oncology development. Prior to these roles, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Medicines Development Oncology at AstraZeneca and various leadership roles at both GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab. Klaus holds a M.D. degree as well as a Ph.D. in cancer biology from University of Copenhagen.

Ulrich Blaschke

Chief Technology Officer

Ulrich joined Nykode as Chief Technology Officer in January 2024. He has a strong background in leading integrated global biopharmaceutical development programs with international teams. Prior to joining Nykode, Ulrich held senior and leadership positions in different companies, including BioNTech, CureVac, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Ulrich studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Münster, Germany. After his PhD studies, he joined Rockefeller University, New York as a postdoctoral fellow, working in the field of synthetic protein chemistry.

Louise Stubbe at Nykode

Louise Stubbe

Chief Legal Officer

Louise joined Nykode Therapeutics in 2022 as Chief Legal Officer, bringing over a decade of experience in the life sciences industry from both private and public companies, where in her previous role she has built the global legal department. Louise has a diverse career background in the Biotech, MedTech and Pharma industries. Most recently, she served as VP, Group General Counsel, at KemPharm and Orphazyme. Prior to these roles, she served as Senior Corporate Legal Counsel at Ambu and LEO Pharma, where she held various roles in the law department. Louise holds a law degree (cand.jur.) from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.