Founded in Geneva, Ageronix is developing a pipeline of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin–based therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical need, led by programs in rare neurological disorders and Alzheimer's disease.
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Ageronix is developing Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT)-based therapies for rare neurological disorders with high unmet medical need. The company's lead program focuses on Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT), one of the most common inherited neuromuscular disorders and a condition for which no approved disease-modifying treatment currently exists.
The foundation of the program is Alpha-1 Antitrypsin, a clinically established molecule with a well-characterized safety profile and broad anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. Ageronix recognized the opportunity to apply these biological mechanisms to neurodegenerative processes underlying CMT and initiated a focused translational development program.
Preclinical studies in a transgenic CMT1A mouse model, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences in 2022, demonstrated that AAT slowed disease progression and improved key measures of peripheral nerve health. These findings established the scientific rationale for further development and supported subsequent regulatory recognition by the FDA through Orphan Drug Designation and Rare Pediatric Disease Designation in 2023.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Ageronix is advancing its lead CMT program toward clinical development while expanding its AAT platform to Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative indications.
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Nikolay Zhukovsky, PhD, MBA, CEO
Chief Executive Officer
& Chairman of the Board
Gael Barthet, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
David Ewers, PhD
Senior Scientist
Carla Faria, PhD
Senior Scientist
Aurore Bugi, MSc
Senior Scientist
Margareta Rybarikova, PhD
Operations
Nikolay Zhukovsky, Phd, MBA
Chief Executive Officer& Chairman of the Board
After studying stem cells at the Imperial College London, Nikolay gained valuable finance experience at UBS and J.P.Morgan. Nikolay is involved with numerous pharmaceutical startups and has vast contacts in the banking, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals domains. He provides grounded strategy and forward thinking for the development and success of Ageronix.
Margareta Rybarikova, PhD
Business Development
Margareta brings a strong combination of business development expertise and scientific training in gene therapy and neuroscience. She completed her MSc at Imperial College London with a focus on gene therapy, worked as a project manager in a U.S.-based biotech startup developing gene therapies for aging, and earned her PhD in Switzerland using CRISPR-Cas9 approaches in neurodegenerative diseases.
Prof. Karl-Heinz Krause
Scientific Advisor & Co-founder
Karl-Heinz is Professor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine & University Hospitals of Geneva, as well as honorary professor at the Bejing Hospital, China. Karl-Heinz has been actively involved in inflammation research. Since 1998, he focused his research further on mechanisms of aging and treatment of age-associated diseases. He is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and founder of 6 startups.
Prof. Beat Imhof
Scientific Advisor
Beat is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pathology & Immunology at the University of Geneva, where he was previously Head of Department. His continued research interests are in the pathology of leukocyte migration in inflammatory diseases & tumor angiogenesis, as well as in drug development. He has also held roles as President of the Swiss Society Allergology & Immunology, & European Society of Microcirculation. He has over 180 publications & patents.
Aurore Bugi, Msc
Scientist
Aurore Bugi is a biotechnology researcher with broad experience in molecular and stem cell biology. She previously worked at Institute for Stem Cell Therapy and Exploration of Monogenic Diseases, France, where she contributed to stem cell therapy program for Huntington’s Disease. She developed protocols for deriving human and monkey pluripotent stem cells and differentiating them into striatal progenitors and neurons. She then joined University of Geneva and later Ageronix, currently developing 3D in vitro models of neurodegenerative diseases.
Gael Barthet, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Gael is a neuroscientist in neurodegenerative diseases and translational neuroscience. He completed a PhD in cell signaling and pharmacology at the Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier, followed by postdoctoral research at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on Alzheimer’s Disease mechanisms. He later held senior roles at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neurosciences in Bordeaux and the Wyss Center in Geneva. At Ageronix, Gael oversees scientific strategy, R&D programs, and partnerships, focusing on patient-derived brain organoid models for neurological disorders.
Prof. Karl-Heinz Krause
Scientific Advisor
Prof. Beat Imhof
Scientific Advisor
Ageronix operates from La Tulipe, a foundation for medical research and innovation situated at the intersection of Geneva University Hospital (HUG) and the University of Geneva. Positioned within one of Switzerland's leading biomedical ecosystems, the company benefits from close engagement with clinical research, academic excellence, and translational development capabilities that support the progression of therapies toward clinical application.
Avenue de la Roseraie 64
1205, Geneva - Switzerland
For more information
please get in touch at:
info@ageronix.com
Avenue de la Roseraie 64
1205, Geneva - Switzerland
+41 223 79 46 43
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