Vladimir Cmiljanovic

Dr. Vladimir Cmiljanovic, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, is one of Switzerland's leading serial pharma entrepreneurs, a medicinal chemist, and a cancer scientist with more than fifteen years of experience in oncology drug development. He is co-author of numerous scientific articles and abstracts and inventor of several patent families with more than 400 registered patents.

With his sister Natasa, Vladimir co-discovered the drug BIMIRALISIB (PQR309) in 2007 at the University of Basel. BIMIRALISIB is a potentially best-in-class oral and brain-penetrant dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor in clinical development for various cancer indications. For his scientific contribution in the PI3K-AKT-mTOR research field, Vladimir won the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Award from the University of Basel in 2009 and the Novartis and University of Basel Excellence Scholarship for Life Sciences in 2011.

In 2010, Vladimir was the winner of the Swiss Venture Kick for PIQUR business idea elaboration. He founded the company PIQUR Therapeutics AG in 2011, as a spinoff of the University of Basel, to develop BIMIRALISIB. Vladimir led PIQUR as CEO and Vice-Chairman and made it an international biotech company. His entrepreneurial skills and a global network of scientists, experts, and investors brought over 85 million USD of funding to PIQUR and attracted top-tier scientific experts and leadership personnel. In 2014, Vladimir won with PIQUR the Northwest Switzerland Young Entrepreneur Award, and in 2015, the Swiss Economic Forum Award.

Vladimir was awarded in 2021 with the Nikola Tesla Award, a prestigious national award given by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The laureates of this award are prominent individuals of Serbian origin who have contributed to the promotion of Serbia and the strengthening of ties between the motherland and Serbs in the region and the diaspora. Dr. Vladimir Cmiljanovic has been named as the recipient for advocating the achievements of Serbian scientists in the world through his scientific attainments in the field of oncology and for leading the team of experts in the development of the second generation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.