BRAIN Biotech AG announces the appointment of Erik de Vries as Senior Business Development Director Enzymes

BRAIN Biotech AG and Enzymicals AG are pleased to announce that Dr. Erik de Vries will join BRAIN Biotech as Senior Business Development Director Enzymes as of June 1st, 2024. De Vries will continue in his current position as CEO of Enzymicals AG on a part-time basis during a transition phase until the end of the year. During this transition phase, his activities will already focus on BRAIN Biotech at the Zwingenberg site.

BRAIN Biotech AG and Enzymicals AG are pleased to announce that Dr. Erik de Vries will join BRAIN Biotech as Senior Business Development Director Enzymes as of June 1st, 2024. De Vries will continue in his current position as CEO of Enzymicals AG on a part-time basis during a transition phase until the end of the year. During this transition phase, his activities will already focus on BRAIN Biotech at the Zwingenberg site.

A succession plan is being implemented. A new CEO will take over the duties from Erik de Vries from January 1st, 2025.

Following the handover of the CEO position at Enzymicals, it is planned to have Erik de Vries appointed to the Supervisory Board of Enzymicals AG as a representative of BRAIN Biotech AG at the 2025 Annual General Meeting. This is to ensure that he can continue to support Enzymicals’ growth strategy with his knowledge and expertise, serving the interests of both Enzymicals AG as well as BRAIN Biotech AG as one of Enzymicals' shareholders.

Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Enzymicals AG, states: “Erik de Vries has done an excellent job since he started in early 2022 as a CEO of Enzymicals as reflected in the record revenues and numerous new projects being underway. At the Supervisory Board, we are very grateful for his valuable input thanks to his decades-long experience in biocatalysis and business development. I am confident that Enzymicals will continue along this path in the future and very much look forward to having Erik de Vries on the Board from 2025.”

“Enzymicals has come out of the Covid crisis really well over the past years”, says Erik de Vries, and continues: “We have seen record revenue coming in in 2022 and 2023 and also this year is already tracking towards achieving a new record revenue. We see a healthy expansion in the customer base as well as a deepening of existing business relationships. This is proof that Enzymicals has earned its place in the market. As Senior Director Business Development at BRAIN Biotech, I will use my expertise to increase revenues, but I will certainly also be on the lookout for synergies between our two companies.”

Dr. Martin Langer, Managing Director & Executive Vice President at BRAIN Biotech AG welcomes Erik de Vries to the BRAIN Biotech family: “Erik is very well connected in the enzyme world and deeply understands the benefits of using our proprietary technology packages such as highly sophisticated microbial production strains, genome editing tools, as well as the easy access to novel enzymes through the metagenome libraries. With his deep insight in markets such as pharma, food, feed, and beverages and knowledge about the needs of the players in these markets, he is the right person and a perfect fit to support the business development team of BRAIN Biotech in Zwingenberg. I am looking forward to working together with Erik with the goals to deepen the synergies between Enzymicals and BRAIN and to further grow BRAIN Biotech´s tailor-made solutions business.”

About Erik de Vries

Erik de Vries has studied Organic Chemistry at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. After obtaining his PhD at the same university in 1997 and during 8 years of postdoc, he started his own spin-off company involved in enzymatic technology. After a successful sale of the company to Codexis Inc, he moved to California to work at Codexis in various functions with increasing responsibility. After Codexis, Erik was Technical Sales Manager for the Americas for the LifeTech™ line of resins at Purolite, Regional Sales Manager North America at the strain engineering company Amyris and then West Coast Business Development Manager at the Swiss pharma contract manufacturer Dottikon Exclusive Synthesis AG. After moving back to his home base in The Netherlands, Erik started his own biotechnology consulting company and has been involved worldwide in the early stages of numerous biotech and deep-tech start-up initiatives. Erik currently is the CEO of Enzymicals AG as well as a member of the (Technical) Advisory Boards of FabricNano Ltd (London, UK) and of Allozymes Pte Ltd (Singapore). Erik has a large network of connections in the biotech, renewable chemicals, cosmetic ingredients, and pharmaceuticals areas.

About BRAINBRAIN Biotech AG is a leading European supplier of bio-based products and solutions such as enzymes and proteins, microbial production strains, natural compounds, and biotechnological solutions for more sustainable industrial processes. The company focuses on the fields of nutrition, pharma, health, and environment.