Meet Raheleh Nassaji, SVP Business Development: Science, Strategy and the Future of AmorphOX®

You have had an impressive international career. Can you tell us about your journey before joining the company?

I have always been drawn to the space between disciplines. Rather than choosing between science and business, I studied both in parallel at Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm School of Economics. That combination has shaped my career: strong science matters, but its value is only realized when it becomes a product that reaches patients.

I am equally intrigued by languages, cultures, and how different perspectives shape decisions.  Starting my career at Pfizer allowed me to combine these interests while working across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since then, I have worked across the pharmaceutical value chain, from strategy and clinical development to product launches and commercialization. Over the past five years, I have focused increasingly on biotechnology, business development, licensing, financing and corporate strategy, most recently as CEO of a vaccine biotechnology company.

Strong science matters, but its value is only realized when it becomes a product that reaches patients.

You have practiced karate for many years and hold a black belt. Has the competitive and combat-oriented nature of the sport influenced your professional career?

Very much so. Karate teaches you to prepare thoroughly, stay composed under pressure and act decisively when the moment comes. It also teaches you that progress is earned through consistent work, often long before the result becomes visible.

That mindset is highly relevant to drug development and business development. Partnerships take time, conditions change and setbacks are part of the process. Persistence matters, but so does judgement: you need to know when to hold your ground, when to adapt and when to walk away.

Karate teaches you to prepare thoroughly, stay composed under pressure and act decisively when the moment comes.

What made you interested in joining Orexo and taking the lead in business development?

Orexo has something unusual: the scientific depth of an innovation company combined with the experience of having brought several medicines to market, both independently and through partners. That means the company understands not only how to create a promising formulation, but what it takes to turn it into a reliable, scalable and commercial product.

AmorphOX was a major attraction. It is a differentiated drug delivery technology with potential across different molecules and therapeutic areas. The opportunity is not simply to license a platform, but to use it to solve problems that may be holding back otherwise promising medicines.

You mentioned the AmorphOX drug delivery technology, for readers less familiar with the technology, what differentiates AmorphOX?

AmorphOX is a drug delivery and formulation technology designed to address challenges involving stability, absorption and administration.

I am fascinated by how our scientists can take an active pharmaceutical ingredient and, through deep formulation expertise, combine it with carefully selected components before spray-drying it into a stable powder that preserves the medicine's potency. Depending on the product, this could extend shelf life and potentially reduce or remove the need for refrigerated storage and transportation. For a critical-care or emergency medicine, reliability and availability are not conveniences; they can be decisive.

The powder is also designed to dissolve rapidly, which can support fast absorption and onset of action. AmorphOX can also enable alternative routes of administration. Intranasal delivery, for example, can offer a needle-free alternative to injections and, for some medicines, help address challenges associated with oral absorption and metabolism.

What excites me is not one attribute in isolation, but their combination - and the possibilities we have yet to explore.

What excites me is not one attribute in isolation, but their combination - and the possibilities we have yet to explore.

In what types of pharmaceuticals could AmorphOX add the most value for a partner?

We see particular potential where the medicine is promising but its formulation, stability, bioavailability, speed of absorption or route of administration creates a barrier. That barrier may be scientific, practical or commercial - and sometimes it is all three.

The most immediate applications include rescue medicines and acute treatments, where rapid absorption and simple administration can be critical. Another opportunity is sensitive molecules, including selected peptides, proteins, biologics and vaccines, where maintaining stability during storage and distribution can be challenging.

Nasal vaccines are particularly interesting. In addition to needle-free administration, vaccination through the nose has the potential to generate local mucosal immunity at the site where many airborne pathogens first enter the body. Combined with the potential stability advantages of a dry-powder formulation, this could open new possibilities for how future vaccines are developed, distributed and administered. These benefits would need to be demonstrated for each vaccine candidate.

The breadth is strategically compelling, but we remain disciplined. We begin with the partner's molecule, target product profile and unmet need, then ask a simple question: can AmorphOX provide a meaningful and demonstrable advantage? If the answer is yes, there may be a strong basis for collaboration.

What are your key priorities in business development for the next 6-12 months?

My key priority is to build a strong portfolio of opportunities where AmorphOX can create clear scientific, patient and commercial value. We are assessing different molecules, therapeutic areas and partners to identify where the technology could deliver the most meaningful differentiation.

I am excited about turning interest in AmorphOX into concrete feasibility projects and, ultimately, value-creating partnerships. The right collaboration could showcase our capabilities across formulation, development and scalable manufacturing within an attractive therapeutic area, while demonstrating the technology's relevance to a wider range of medicines.

Business development involves uncertainties, and we cannot predict the timing or outcome of individual discussions. What we can do is build a strong portfolio of well-qualified opportunities and work systematically to convert the most promising ones into value-creating collaborations. 

Our ambition is clear: for Orexo to be recognized as a scientifically strong, commercially minded and responsive partner, turning promising molecules into differentiated medicines.

I am excited about turning interest in AmorphOX into concrete feasibility projects and, ultimately, value-creating partnerships.