A new horizon in neurodegenerative
disease treatments

Sharon is a highly experienced drug development leader with deep expertise in ALS, spanning early discovery through late-stage clinical development. She has led ALS programs at MT-Pharma, Karyopharm Therapeutics, and United Neuroscience, advancing innovative therapies toward regulatory milestones and registration. Sharon has a strong track record in regulatory engagement, patient-centred trial design, and modern clinical execution—including digital health and real-world data integration.

Dr Michael Thurn brings broad experience in drug discovery, development, regulation and commercialisation, acquired through leadership roles in research organisations and industry, including early-stage, fastgrowing, private and publicly listed biotechnology companies. His previous responsibilities have included leading a variety of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lnvestigational New Drug (IND) applications across a range of therapeutic areas and the evaluation of drugs and vaccines for registration in Australia as a part of the Drug Safety Evaluation Branch (DSEB) of the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA).

Michael has also been responsible for the execution of Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and business development activities across animal and human health products. He possesses strong entrepreneurial, leadership and management skills that have seen him achieve outstanding results over a 25 year career in the biotechnology industry, including co-founding MARPTherapeutics and roles with Botanix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:BOT), Mimetica, Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, Cytopia, Xenome and Novogen. During this time, Dr Thurn has gained Australian and US capital markets exposure and has successfully accessed funding through private and public channels, partnerships, and non-dilutive means.

Dan has over 20 years of experience working in multinational companies, with extensive experience in accounting and finance, research and development, M&A, procurement, shared services, investor relations and communications, government and industry relations, and tax. Dan was CFO of Kingsgate Consolidated, Interim CFO of Newcrest Mining, and has held other senior finance and commercial positions at Newcrest Mining, BHP, and Ernst & Young.​

Dr Brown brings over two decades of drug development experience, scientific and commercial leadership, in the development of new treatments for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. He has overseen multiple neurology programs from early discovery through IND-enabling studies, including Huntington’s disease, currently in clinical trials. He held executive roles in global biopharmaceutical companies such as Amgen, Pfizer, BMS, Alexion, Wave, Voyager, and Deep Genomics.

John Clark joined Neurizon with over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in phase I – IV clinical trials across numerous therapeutic areas and multiple geographical regions. Most recently, John served as Senior Project Manager at a Global CRO, leading the Clinical Operations team and providing cross-functional oversight on a national CNS trial. Before that, John held various clinical operations leadership roles responsible for implementing clinical programs.

John has a proven project management and stakeholder engagement record, with a thorough knowledge of ICH-GCP and regulatory requirements. John earned his B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of the West of England.

Dr Freitag has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with positions in companies including Hoffmann La Roche, Shire, and BTG, where he led global clinical development projects. He held the position of Chief Medical Officer at Dynacure and Azafaros, where he was responsible for medical and regulatory strategy, including clinical development of a rare diseases compound. Dr Freitag was the Medical Monitor on NUZ’s Phase 1 MEND study and oversaw medical and clinical activities.

Lidija Damjanovic brings over 15 years of global experience and passion for launching pharmaceutical products and leading corporate communications and affairs in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Her extensive leadership experience in driving commercial growth strategies includes marketing and communications roles in companies such as Merck Sharpe and Dohme, Sartorius, Patheon and other global organizations.

Dr Herbert Brinkman, based in Denver, Colorado, has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Brinkman has prepared over 25 Chemistry Manufacturing and Control (CMC) sections and updates for multiple lnvestigational New Drug (IND), New Drug Application (NDA), supplementary NDA (sNDA), lnvestigational Medicinal Product Dossier (IMPDJ, and Abbreviated NDA <ANDA) filings for United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European regulatory agencies.

Dr Brinkman has filed and commercially launched nine products encompassing oncology, metabolic, dermatology, and endocrinology therapeutic areas and contributed to filing 21ANDAs for various semi-solid and parenteral products. He is also an inventor on 14 patents. His expertise includes current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) systems applied to API manufacture/ Drug Product manufacture and addressing regulatory issues. Dr Brinkman’s previous position was Executive Director of Product Development at NASDAQ-listed company Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AROT), where he was responsible for the successful commercial launch of ZORYVE (roflumilast).

Dr. Martin Engel is an experienced strategic lifescience partnership manager with strong expertise in neuropharmacology. In his role as Medical & Scientific Partnerships Lead at Neurizon, he drives global engagement with pharmaceutical partners, supporting scientific due diligence, shaping program positioning, and providing input to clinical and pre-clinical development planning aligned with partner expectations. Martin brings a proven ability to work across clinical, pre-clinical, and commercial teams, with a track record of building trusted external relationships across US, EU and APAC, and representing organisations in scientific and industry forums; he holds a PhD in neuropharmacology and has published widely on treatment development across central nervous system disorders.