Oral delivery of macromolecules such as peptides and proteins remains one of the major challenges in drug delivery. Despite considerable advances, barriers including gastrointestinal degradation, limited permeability, food effects and exposure variability continue to limit broader adoption of oral macromolecules.
Successful oral delivery of macromolecules has the potential to improve the treatment experience for patients, reduce reliance on injection- based administration pathways, and broaden access to therapies.
As the field matures, the focus is increasingly shifting from whether oral delivery can work to understanding which approaches are most likely to translate into robust, scalable and commercially viable medicines. No single technology is likely to address all barriers associated with oral delivery of macromolecules. Progress may depend on combining complementary approaches, with distinct technologies addressing different aspects of the challenge, including gastrointestinal stability, permeability, food effects, exposure variability and manufacturability. As a result, collaboration across academia, biotechnology companies, technology developers and pharmaceutical R&D organizations remains critical.
Johnson & Johnson invites external innovators, academic leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem partners to a hybrid scientific engagement event in the Netherlands focused on device- and formulation-based technologies for oral delivery of macromolecules.
Dr. Ana Beloqui is an Associate Professor and Research Associate from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS) at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium), and group leader in the Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials lab at the Louvain Drug Research Institute. Dr Beloqui’s main research interests are the investigation of the oral drug delivery route (especially focused on the oral delivery of macromolecules) and the interaction of the drug delivery system with the gastrointestinal epithelium. She has received multiple scholarships and prizes, including the Galien Prize 2021 in Belgium, the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Prize 2023 from the Belgian National Funds of Research, the 2024 Rising Woman in Science award and 2026 Young Investigator award from the Controlled Release Society, and the prestigious ERC starting and proof of concept grants from the European Research Council. She also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Controlled Release.
Anke Caßing is a member of the Life Sciences investment team at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), one of Germany’s most active venture capital investors. HTGF supports ambitious founders and technology-driven companies across deep tech, life sciences and digital tech — from the initial idea through to international scaling.
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With a background in biology, Anke focuses on identifying and supporting innovative businesses in the life sciences sector. In addition, she is responsible for growth financing activities at HTGF Opportunity, supporting portfolio companies as they scale and develop their businesses. Through her work, she brings an investor’s perspective on the translation of scientific and technological innovation into commercially viable solutions, as well as on the financing pathways required to advance new technologies.
Wouter is a trained pharmacist and holds a PhD in pharmaceutical technology. He has over 15 years of experience in alternative routes of administration and has focused on oral peptide delivery specifically in the past 5 years. He currently holds the role of Scientific Director Formulation Technologies for oral peptides at Johnson & Johnson, overseeing all of the efforts for formulation for oral delivery of peptides, both internally and externally.
Evita van de Steeg is Lead Scientist for Preclinical ADME and Organ-on-Chip technologies at TNO Health & Work. She specializes in the development and application of human-relevant models for drug development, combining in vitro, ex vivo, and advanced microphysiological systems to study drug absorption, metabolism, and disposition. Her research focuses on improving the predictive value of preclinical testing while supporting the transition toward more human-relevant and animal-free approaches.
Thomas has been the Chief Executive Officer of Vivtex since 2026. Previously, Thomas served as the Chief Scientific Officer of Vivtex where he has been leading and building the Vivtex Technology from an initial concept to a platform that created clinical stage drug products. Thomas brings over a decade of leadership in the field of oral drug delivery with strong expertise in pharma co-development partnerships.
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Previously, he led an interdisciplinary team in the Laboratory of Prof. Robert Langer and Prof. Giovanni Traverso at MIT as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He obtained a PhD from Imperial College London in Bioengineering and BSc and MSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from ETH in Switzerland where he graduated receiving the Willi-Studer award for academic excellence.
Dr Bergström is Professor in Molecular Pharmaceutics at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Adjunct Professor at Monash University, Australia. She is heading a research group of ~35 people focusing on delivery of problematic compounds (poorly solubles, biologics). Her expertise area is within advanced drug delivery systems with focus on biorelevant profiling, computational prediction and novel manufacturing techniques. She is the Center Director of The Swedish Drug Delivery Center – an academic-industry partnership with 15 industrial partners from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Italy, and Scientific Director of the ADME of Therapeutics platform in Scilifelab, a national platform supporting state-of-the art research within drug discovery and development. Dr Bergström has attracted funding to her research program from highly competitive sources, including the European Research Council (3), the Swedish Research Council (8), the National Institute of Health and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. Her companies have attracted funding from the Swedish Innovation Agency and Women Tech EU. She has published >150 papers and book chapters and has been cited >11,000 times (h-index of 56). She is a sought for member of grant evaluation panels and scientific advisory boards.
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Dr Bergström is a cofounder of the Nordic Pharma Network  and coordinator of the newly established Nordic Pharma Train initiative. She is also an EXCO member of the Globalization Pharmaceutics Education Network. She has founded four companies supporting companies in the drug delivery and development area. She was elected Dean of collaboration (Medicine and Pharmacy) at Uppsala University 2017-2026. In this role, she was engaged in outreach activities, identification and establishment of strategic partnerships, interactions with governmental departments of importance for health and education, as well as increasing the academic awareness of the innovation system. In 2018, she became associate editor for the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Florian Föger is the founder of Cyprumed GmbH and the inventor of its next generation drug delivery technology. Previously, Florian Föger was Director of Oral Formulation Research at Novo Nordisk A/S in Denmark. He is the inventor of more than 10 patent applications in the field of oral peptide delivery and author of 17 peer reviewed research articles in the oral delivery field. Florian Föger received a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Michela Silacci Melkko, PhD, is Senior Director, Discovery Product Development & Supply (DPDS) External Innovation, associated with the EMEA Innovation Centre in London UK. In this role she is responsible for the scouting and evaluation of external opportunities for DPDS in the EMEA region, across all biologic drug modalities, as well as providing transactional support from a scientific and strategic perspective for DPDS-driven deals and partnering with the JLABS organisation to identify and foster start-up companies that are aligned with DPDS strategy.
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Since June 2020, Michela has been Director, External Innovation in the global DPDS External Innovation Team with responsibility for the evaluation of external opportunities in the field of biologic modalities.
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Prior to joining J&J, Michela worked at Covagen AG, a biotech company acquired by J&J in 2014, where she supported the discovery and development of bispecific FynomAb protein therapeutics in various roles with increasing responsibility.
Viggo Van Tendeloo joined J&J in 2019 and currently works for the J&J Belgium Campus Strategy, Operations and Partnerships team. He is director, Search and Evaluation Benelux for the J&J EMEA Innovation Center. Within this role he focuses on the sourcing, screening and evaluation of early partnering opportunities in the Benelux of high strategic value to Johnson & Johnson.
Viggo received a PhD in cell & gene therapy in 2000 and was a full professor in Cellular Immunotherapy at the University of Antwerp (2007-2023). In 2005 he co-founded the first FAGG authority-approved Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (CCRG) at the Antwerp University Hospital where he served as the scientific director until 2012 and later as Lab Director, Immunomonitoring & Translational Research until 2019.
He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 54), several books and book chapters on cell therapy, nonviral gene transfer and cancer immunotherapy.
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