Interview: Experiences targeting B cells for the treatment of multiple sclerosis

Andrew Chan and Albert Jan Schutte speak to Jonathan Wilkinson, Commissioning Editor: Andrew Chan obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston (IL, USA) and his medical degree and doctorate in cellular and developmental biology from Washington University School of Medicine (USA). He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis (MO, USA) before becoming a postdoctoral clinical and research fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Chan is Senior Vice President of Research Biology of Genentech Inc., a member of the Roche Group, San Francisco (CA, USA). Dr Chan’s current focus is to define the heterogeneous causes of human disease and developing new therapies to attack the dominant pathogenic pathways that drive disease in each of these patient subsets. Dr Chan’s laboratory is currently working on defining the role of immune cells in autoimmune disease, as well as understanding the mechanisms of action of anti-CD20 and other B-cell modulatory therapies. His research interests include basic discovery in understanding the underlying pathogenesis of human autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. He is also a frequent lecturer and has authored or coauthored more than 100 scientific articles. Prior to joining Genentech in 2001, Dr Chan was an associate professor in the Division of Rheumatology and the Departments of Medicine, Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, where he was also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute associate investigator. Dr Chan is also a member of the American Association of Immunologists, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians. In 2008, Albert Jan Schutte joined F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in Basel (Switzerland) from Schering-Plough/Organon International (NJ, USA) to take over the leadership of the Ocrelizumab Multiple Sclerosis Life Cycle team. Since February 2013, he has been the Global Medical Director for Neuroscience and Cardiometabolism. Albert qualified as an MD at the Free University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and worked several years in Internal Medicine in Amsterdam. He started his career in Pharma as a Medical Advisor CNS with Solvay Pharma in Weesp, The Netherlands. He then joined Solvay Pharma International, where he, as Medical Manager, was responsible for the Middle East and Asian Pacific region. In 1998, he joined Organon International, where he worked almost exclusively in neuroscience (depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). In 2002, he joined the US headquarters, where he was Executive Director for Neuroscience, acting both as Global Marketing Director and Global Medical Science Lead.