Management Team
Aplagon is led by an international team with broad experience across pharmaceutical R&D, patient care in vascular disease indications, fund raising and other business transactions in the life science sector.
Aki Prihti
Chief Executive Officer; M.Sc. (Econ. and BA)
Aki joined Aplagon as CEO in February 2015.
He is one of the founders of Inveni Capital, a life sciences focused venture capital fund, and serves as a board member in Herantis Pharma Oyj, Medtentia International Ltd Oy and Aranda Pharma Oy. Aki has been involved in setting up and developing, as well as fundraising for, several life science companies. Aki has more than fifteen years of experience in life science growth companies, both in operational and board roles.
Riitta Lassila
Chief Scientific Officer, Co-founder; MD, PhD, Prof
Riitta is co-founder and CSO of Aplagon.
She is also Head of Coagulation Disorders at Helsinki University Hospital and Professor in Coagulation Medicine at Helsinki University.
Riitta trained in internal medicine and has many years of experience across thrombosis and haemostasis research; she was previously a group leader at the Wihuri Research Institute in Helsinki. She is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications, review articles or book chapters and an author on Aplagon’s APAC product patents. She has served as a steering committee member of EAHAD and EUHANET, a European haemophilia and allied disorders program. She sits on the advisory boards of several pharmaceutical companies. She is an elected member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.
Sakari Lassila
Chairman of the Board, Co-founder; M.Sc. (Econ. and BA)
Sakari has over 30 years of experience in international commercial and investment banking, corporate finance and investment company management where he has held senior positions at Union Bank of Finland (now part of Nordea), Citibank, Alfred Berg and Carnegie.
Sakari is now Managing Director and co-owner of Indcrea Oy, an industrial investment company based in Finland.
Harry Holthöfer
Non-Executive Director, MD, PhD, Prof
Harry brings a wealth of international experience in translational research in diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney diseases.
He is Professor of Bioanalytical Sciences and Director and Chair of the Centre for BioAnalytical Sciences at Dublin City University and serves as Research Director at University of Helsinki, Finland, Adjunct Professor at University of Shenzhen, China and Visiting Professor at Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China and University of Freiburg, Germany. Harry is also co-founder and CEO of three start-up biotech companies.
Kai Lindevall
Non-Executive Director, Co-founder; MD, PhD
Kai is former President and CEO of Encorium Group. He brings over twenty years of senior management and entrepreneurship experience in the life sciences sector gained at pharmaceutical, biotech and CRO companies. He was one of the founders of Remedium (a predecessor to Encorium) and Ipsat Therapies, and has served as Medical Advisor to Farmos, Medical Director to Rhône-Poulenc Rorer and as Associate Director of Research at Wihuri Research Institute in Helsinki, where he led his own research group involved in thrombosis research.
Steven Myint
Non-Executive Director, MD, PhD, Prof
Steve is an advisor to the chairman of Singapore’s Agency for Science and Technology, amongst other governmental organizations. Previous roles included Executive Chairman of Green Signal Bio, one of India’s largest independent vaccine manufacturers, Global Medical Director of GlaxoSmithKline and Senior Vice-President for R&D/Chief Medical Officer at BTG International. He is actively involved in innovative biotech companies and co-founded Finland’s largest accelerator fund.
He is a Fellow or Member of several UK societies, including the Institute of Knowledge Transfer, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society of Medicine.