My name is Dirk Benedikt Strickmann. I am a chemist by training. I received my MSc in chemistry (Dipl.-Chem.) in 1996 and my PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in pharmaceutical chemistry in 2000, both from the University of Münster (Germany). After a postdoctoral fellowship as Lise-Meitner fellow at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry – Bioinorganic and Complex Chemistry at the University of Vienna (Austria), I started my career in pharmaceutical industry at the Antibiotic Research Institute (ABRI) of Sandoz GmbH in Vienna in 2002.
In 2006, Nabriva Therapeutics GmbH was founded, where I worked for more than 17 years. As Senior Director DMPK, I was responsible for all internal and external tasks related to bioanalytical and several ADME aspects (e.g. drug metabolism, drug transporters, plasma protein binding). In this function, I managed an internal bioanalytical laboratory.
I was also responsible for the planning and realisation of all external bioanalytical phases/studies for all non-clinical and clinical studies, as well as external in vitro studies on metabolism and drug transporters. I was member of the non-clinical and clinical research & development teams and co-author of an approved NDA (Xenleta®) in the USA and an approved MAA in Europe.
In these 17 years, I have had the opportunity to participate in the full development of a novel antibiotic drug (Xenleta®) from discovery in the laboratory to the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2019 and by the EMA in July 2020. I am grateful for this rare chance that only a few bioanalytical scientists ever get.
In addition to that, in 2015 I took on the role of managing director under trade law and since then I have been responsible for the technical management and all trade law related aspects of our R&D facility.
In May 2020, I decided to offer my experience to other biotechnology companies and start-ups as a part-time consultant in order to support them in the area of bioanalysis.
The services I can offer are summarised here.
In June 2021, I was appointed Managing Director of Nabriva Therapeutics GmbH and reported directly to the CEO of the Nabriva Group.
Since Nabriva’s Austrian site was closed in 2023, I left the company in July 2023.
In August 2023, I accepted the new role as site head and managing director under trade law for the InnoFly BioCenter (IBC) GmbH, setting up IBC’s laboratory facility in Vienna with up to six small biotechnology companies and start-ups.
In June 2024, I became shareholder of IBC and have temporarily taken on the role of managing director until end of 2025.
In October 2024, I joined Rockfish Bio AG as Director DMPK/ADME and helped setting up the non-clinical ADME/DMPK program for novel small molecule senolytics including plasma and organ PK, drug metabolism, drug transporters, and plasma protein binding. I was member of the research & development team. Furthermore, I set up the HSE concept for Rockfish Bio. I held this position until I left Rockfish Bio in December 2025.
Due to the temporary cessation of operations at Rockfish Bio and the successful establishment of the IBC, I have now more time again for consulting activities.
For more details, see my CV (two-pager, detailed version) and my List of Publications.
My LinkedIn profile can be found here.