Eric KLASEN
Founder of Waypoint Life Sciences Consulting
After spending his youth in Indonesia, Qatar and Nigeria, he graduated in biochemistry and
genetics from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, where he worked as a research
associate in the Department of Human Genetics, broadening his interest in molecular biology
and genetics and developing immunological techniques and monoclonal antibodies for the
detection of somatic point mutations in human hemoglobin. In 1981, he became head of the
immunochemistry unit at the Medical Biological Laboratory of TNO, an applied research
organization in the Netherlands.
In 1986, he joined Serono Diagnostics in Rome as Head of R&D, QC and QA and Head of
Manufacturing Compliance for the Pharma-Biologics Division and later moved to Serono
Biotech in Switzerland as Head of QA/QC. After a period as a consultant, he joined Chiron
Vaccines in Siena in 1994 as Director of Regulatory Compliance (RA/QA/QC) and in 1998 became Head of Global Drug Regulatory Affairs for Novartis Consumer Health in
Switzerland. In 2004, he completed his life sciences experience by joining Medtronic
International as VP Regulatory Affairs and Quality, based in Switzerland.
He is Treasurer and Board Member of the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice
(EFGCP) in Belgium, Board Member of Start-Ups in Switzerland and has been a long-term
Board Member of a group of Diabetes Clinics and a group of Obesity Clinics (NOK) in the
Netherlands.
Since his retirement from Medtronic in 2019, he has been a consultant to the life sciences
industry, focusing on regulatory, quality and business development strategies.