Company

ARTCLINE‘s vision is to become the leading biotech company for immune cell based extracorporeal sepsis therapy.

Currently, we are focused on the clinical trials and the further development of our ARTICE® Therapy for the treatment of bacterial sepsis.

Sepsis or septic shock are main causes of death, especially in the intensive care units. In addition, high therapy costs are associated with sepsis due to high therapeutic and diagnostic efforts but also the length of stay in the hospital.

ARTCLINE develops a novel immune cell-based extracorporeal sepsis therapy ARTICE® for patients and medical practitioners worldwide. Effectiveness, safety and ease of use are the most important attributes of our therapy.

Our experience in the field of sepsis diagnosis and therapy helps us to accomplish our vision. Together with clinical experts and our partners, we will continue to identify immunological causes of and interactions in sepsis.

We, the founders, and the team of ARTCLINE have been successfully involved in the transfer of medical inventions from university research to industrial applications. We have an extensive network and many years of experience in the development of biopharmaceuticals and medical devices.

It all started at the Nephrology section of the University Medical Center Rostock. Already in 1998, the first attempts were initiated to develop a sepsis therapy system. In the early years successful treatments in rats and pigs were performed and published. The first clinical phase I/II study in humans was initiated in 2003. 2007, ARTCLINE was founded due to the encouraging results.

Artcline has developed its patented ARTICE® Therapy to market readiness and regulatory approvals have been obtained already. The final clinical validation is currently being conducted in a controlled randomized multicenter study in Germany (ReActIF-ICE) to evaluate the effectiveness of ARTICE®.

Learn more about our therapy

Management

Dr. Jens Altrichter

Managing Director & founder

 

Contact:
jens.altrichter@artcline.de

Dr. Jens Altrichter is a board-certified physician in Biochemistry and founder and Managing Director of the ARTCLINE GmbH since 2007.

Since 1998, Jens has been Managing Director and board member of several biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies, most recently COO of LEUKOCARE AG. The main areas of his responsibility were research & development, general management, regulatory affairs and quality management as well as the planning, organization and evaluation of clinical studies.

Before, Jens worked on various research projects in the fields of immunology, biochemistry and biotechnology. As head of a BSL2 laboratory for genetic engineering at the University of Rostock, he gave lectures and seminars and accompanied students during their internships.

In 1995, Jens received a DAAD grant for a one-year research stay in the USA and worked as a visiting researcher at the „National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease“ at the „National Institutes of Health“ in Rockville, Maryland. In his research project he dealt with the importance of tyrosine phosphatases in the immune response.

During the first years of his medical education, Jens worked intensively on immunology, biochemistry and cell biology. In addition, he completed numerous internships domestically and abroad, at the Brown University and the University of Iowa, USA for instance.

In 1994, he received the Joachim-Jungius-Award of the University of Rostock, Germany.

As an inventor and co-inventor, his name is listed on numerous national and international patents from the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical technology and vaccines. In addition, various original and review articles were published with him as author or co-author.

Dirk Hessel

Managing Director

 

Contact:
dirk.hessel@artcline.de

Dirk Hessel is a senior executive with over 25 years of multicultural leadership experience in general management, commercial operations, and strategic development. Since 2024, he has served as the Managing Director of ARTCLINE GmbH.

Before this, Dirk was the CEO of a biotech company in Germany that developed a liquid biopsy assay for the early detection and treatment monitoring of breast cancer. Prior to that, he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management at CO.DON AG, a publicly listed company and market leader in personalized autologous human cell therapy.

Before transitioning to the biotech sector, Dirk spent more than 15 years at Bayer AG and Grünenthal, holding senior strategic and commercial leadership positions. He served as Chief of Staff, Head of Hematology/Cardiology in Europe, and General Manager for Latin America, where he focused on launching global specialty products.

Dirk has lived and worked in highly competitive and mature markets, including the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He is fluent in German, English, and Spanish.

Prof. Steffen Mitzner

CSO & founder

 

Contact:
steffen.mitzner@artcline.de

Prof. Dr. Steffen Mitzner is a specialist in internal medicine and heads the Nephrology section at the department of internal medicine at the University Hospital of Rostock, Germany.

He was intensively involved with the subject of extracorporeal organ support at an early stage. Together with the physician Dr. Jan Stange he developed the liver support system MARS® in the early 1990s. Currently, the therapy is marketed by Baxter Inc. and is used worldwide.

Since 1998, Steffen has founded and continues to lead various research groups and projects. The extracorporeal organ replacement group at the Clinic for Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Rostock, the Center for Extracorporeal Organ Support (CEOS) in 2008 and the Fraunhofer group „Extracorporeal Immunomodulation“ in 2011 are worth mentioning here.

Steffen has been a principal investigator in multiple clinical studies and has been involved in the planning and protocol preparation of clinical trials.

More than 100 original and review articles have been published with him as author or co-author. As an inventor and co-inventor, his name is listed on a great variety in national and international patents.

Due to his many years of experience, Steffen brings extensive expertise in the development of therapeutic blood treatment procedures.

John Peitschner

CFO

 

Contact:
john.peitschner@artcline.de

John Peitschner is an accomplished finance professional with experience in audit, advisory, and senior leadership roles. As the CFO of ARTCLINE, he brings a strategic mindset and a proven track record of success to the company.

John started his professional career at Ernst & Young in audit and advisory. During this time, he had a diverse range of clients, spanning from startups to publicly traded enterprises. Additionally, he gained valuable experience while working at the EY German Business Center located in São Paulo, Brazil. Progressing further in his career, he assumed the role of the CFO at an international data company, where he played a vital role within the senior management team. Subsequently, he ventured into entrepreneurship by co-founding a company, in which he served as the CFO. With his strategic efforts, the company achieved remarkable growth on an international scale, ultimately leading to a successful acquisition by an investor.

Quality Management

The goal of our quality policy is the safety of patients and users, the fulfillment of our customers as well as legal requirements.

We always place great importance on high quality and have been certified according to EN ISO 13485 by DNV MEDCERT since 2013. ISO 13485 is a worldwide quality standard especially for the medical device industry.

Every day we improve and support the qualification, motivation and satisfaction of our employees.

The head office and the facility in the Biomedical Research Center (BMFZ) Rostock meet all the specific requirements of a biotechnology and medical device company.

We always ensure the effectiveness of our quality management system and the continued suitability of our quality policy, as part of our continuous evaluation and improvement process.

Your contact:

+49 (0)381 440 703 0

info@artcline.de