Daniel Ritz has been the Director and Senior Group Leader in the biology department of drug discovery at Idorsia Pharmaceuticals since it was created in June 2017. There he is responsible for preclinical antibacterial projects focusing on Gram-negative and broad-spectrum compounds.

Daniel’s background is in biochemistry and bacterial genetics where he has focused on early discovery and lead optimization of antibacterial compounds, preclinical development, and microbiology aspects during later development stages.

He spent 12 years at Actelion Pharmaceuticals, before the demerger that resulted in the creation of Idorsia. He began his career at Actelion as a lab head responsible for microbial genetics before moving on to lead the preclinical anti-infective group for five years. There he was responsible for the discovery portfolio, including the work on cadazolid that was in clinical development for the treatment of C. difficile infections. He also contributed to several research projects that resulted in the discovery of several broad-spectrum antibiotics that were advanced into preclinical development.

Daniel previously held a position at Cubist Pharmaceuticals and was involved in the lipopeptide optimization programme. He led the biology team responsible for natural product screening, has authored over 30 papers, and holds several patents.

Daniel received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry and his PhD in microbiology from the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland and completed his postdoctoral training as research fellow in the lab of Jon Beckwith at Harvard Medical School in Boston.