Mathias comes from Rentschler Biopharma SE, a leading global, full-service CDMO, which he led as CEO since 2016. He is now returning to the Rentschler Supervisory Board and will take over as CEO at Oxford Biomedica in March 2023.  Rentschler was the first CDMO in Europe to support the commercial production of the mRNA vaccine for BioNTech and also successfully transferred the commercial production process for Curevac’s mRNA vaccine.

Prior to Rentschler, Mathias was CEO of publicly listed Medigene AG, an immuno-oncology company focusing on the development of T-cell-based cancer therapies. Over the course of his 30-year career, Dr Mathias has also served in senior roles at leading global pharmaceutical companies including Amgen, Servier and Hoechst AG. In 2019 he was awarded the title of “EY Entrepreneur of the Year” in Germany.

Dr Roch Doliveux will remain as Interim CEO of Oxford Biomedica until March 2023, at which point Dr Mathias will fully take over the role of CEO and Dr Doliveux will resume the role of Non-Executive Chair.  Commenting on the appointment, Dr Roch Doliveux, Chair and Interim CEO of Oxford Biomedica, said: “I, on behalf of the Board, am delighted to welcome Frank as CEO of Oxford Biomedica. Frank is an outstanding patient centric leader with impressive experience from a top-end CDMO as well as from innovative biopharma companies. He has a strong track record of delivering growth and driving performance and innovation which are core strengths required to implement our strategy of becoming an innovative global viral vector leader. I know that Frank will drive our viral vector leadership to unleash the potential of cell and gene therapy for biopharma companies to save many lives.”