"Sometimes somebody is professionally perfect, experience outstanding—and it's a horrible person. And it doesn’t turn out until it’s too late."
In this episode, I talked with Dr. András Strassz, Chief Medical Officer at Heidelberg Pharma, to hear about his two decades of leadership in oncology drug development—and the often-overlooked realities behind building teams, designing clinical trials, and making biotech work.
András opens up about key moments in his career, including the personal crisis that almost forced him to leave the industry, the turning point when he stepped into his CMO role, and what it really takes to develop first-in-class ADCs with novel payloads.
We also dive deep into industry-wide mistakes—why promising clinical programs still fail because of poor design, how pressure and under-resourcing distort decision-making, and why senior leadership continues to overlook culture fit when hiring.
András also shares behind-the-scenes insights into Heidelberg’s development of amanitin-based ADCs, what makes their team culture unique, and why “good enough” just isn’t good enough when you’re trying to build something from scratch.
(Find out more in the episode.)
Here’s What You’re In For
- The personal and professional chaos of nearly losing his job mid-relocation
- How burnout and overwork early in his career forced him to rethink everything
- Building Heidelberg Pharma’s clinical function from zero during COVID lockdown
- How companies misuse clinicians in study design
- Why culture alignment should outweigh credentials when building teams
- How to spot red flags in hiring—even before the offer stage
- What good leadership looks like in biotech—and what it never forgets
Timestamps
02:18 – Why he left clinical practice and how he got his first pharma job at J&J
05:38 – Career highlights: relocating from Hungary and becoming CMO
09:09 – Career low point: near job loss during relocation and how he handled it
11:01 – Burnout in his first role and the health consequences of overwork
13:38 – Overview of Heidelberg Pharma’s ADC platform
15:58 – What defines the people and culture at Heidelberg
18:51 – Biggest industry mistakes: bad study design, rushed decisions, outdated models
26:00 – Hiring reflections: CV vs culture fit, and how interviews often mislead
About András
Dr. András Strassz is the Chief Medical Officer of Heidelberg Pharma, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for targeted cancer treatment. András specializes in early clinical development, focusing on oncology and hematological oncology. He has experience working in both Big Pharma, namely JnJ, Amgen, Novartis, and Biotechs - Polyphor, Affimed, and his current company, Heidelberg Pharma across three countries: Hungary, Germany, and Switzerland.
Outside his professional stint, his hobbies are DIY, hiking, and cooking. We have know each other for a while now, always appreciated András honesty, humour and insights and he is here to join me today - welcome.
Connect with András
About Heidelberg Pharma
- A biopharmaceutical company working on a new treatment approach in oncology and developing novel drugs based on its ADC technologies for the targeted and highly effective treatment of cancer.
- The Company uses several compounds and has built up an ADC toolbox that overcomes tumor resistance via numerous pathways and addresses different types of cancer using various antibodies.
- Heidelberg Pharma is the first company to use the compound Amanitin from the green death cap mushroom in cancer therapy.
- The company as well as its subsidiary Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH is based in Ladenburg near Heidelberg in Germany. It was founded in September 1997 as Wilex Biotechnology GmbH in Munich and was changed to WILEX AG in 2000.
- Heidelberg Pharma: https://heidelberg-pharma.com/en/
- Pipeline: https://heidelberg-pharma.com/en/research-development/portfolio-overview
About me
My name is Charles Spence and I lead Discera. After many years working in the life-science recruitment world, I decided to work for myself. Before doing recruitment I graduated with a biomedical degree, have worked in hospitals (including translation work in Seoul, South Korea), and also spent a year working in diabetes research in Stockholm. After doing research and travel, a career in business and science felt the most appropriate.
In 2023, I decided to launch my firm - Discera Search. A firm committed to solving the biggest talent needs of early clinical stage SME biotechs on the East Coast and DACH.
Connect with me:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-spence-clinical/
- Website: https://www.discera-search.com/
Opinions and comments expressed by the guest do not represent the company and are fully their own.
