Marguerite Mensonides has a background in pharmacy, but was never in a pharmacy. She was particularly interested in drug development and worked for years at larger pharmaceutical companies. In 2020, together with Charlott Brunmark and Karin von Wachenfeldt, two Swedish former colleagues and experienced entrepreneurs, Marguerite founded Amplio Pharma in Sweden. Talking about their mission, she says: ‘With over 25 years of experience in the drug industry each, all three of us know how strong the emphasis within the pharma sector is on developing new substances with an innovative mechanism of action. At the same time, we see that the vast majority of these innovations never make it to the finish line, despite the significant investments made in them. We think it is a shame that so little attention is paid to the possibilities of helping patients better by improving existing drugs with the latest scientific insights. That is why we have developed a technology that allows us to develop improved versions of existing drugs.’
Becoming an entrepreneur
Marguerite: ‘To take your idea to market, you need certain skills. You need to further develop your technology and be able to move well in the world of startups. The entrepreneurship you need is very different from the work within a large, established company that I did before. I had yet to “become an entrepreneur”. Along the way, you frequently encounter people who are very sceptical about your idea. That's when it's important to be strong as a founding team. And we do. We started with great respect for each other's knowledge and expertise. Recent years have taught us the value of having room for each other's critical notes. When faced with challenges or problems, we don't play “blame or shame games” among ourselves. Instead, we look at how we engage and solve issues together. This culture in which trust, respect and openness form the basis makes us resilient. Apart from being effective, it also works very nicely.’
Little venture capital going to women
Amplio Pharma's first drug is NovoBioJect, a combination of the existing drugs methotrexate (the most commonly prescribed basic drug for rheumatoid arthritis) and novobiocin. Novobiocin should make methotrexate stay longer in the cells that cause the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and therefore work better in lower doses. If this therapy works faster and better in more patients and is also better tolerated, the need to prescribe other drugs (e.g. expensive biologicals) goes down. In the search for capital for their technology, Marguerite and her colleagues discovered that having a 100% female team of founders could be a disadvantage: ‘There is an investment gap: in Europe, less than 3% of venture capital goes to companies with female founders. In chemistry, you have the “like dissolves like” principle. I believe that also plays a role in funding. Despite this gap, we did manage to raise the venture capital we needed.’
From Sweden to the Netherlands
Amplio Pharma started in Sweden in 2020, but failed to gain a foothold there. ‘The importance of future-proof healthcare did not resonate sufficiently there,’ says Marguerite. ‘That's why we came to the Netherlands in 2020, where better use of medicines has been in the spotlight for some time. There, we were put in touch with the Leiden investment fund Libertatis Ergo Holding BV. At the same time, we came into contact with Prof Dr Robert de Jonge of the Amsterdam UMC. He has developed an advanced measurement method that allows us to demonstrate the effect of our combination therapy at the cellular level, a crucial step in bringing NovoBioJect to the market. Robert then put us in touch with Amsterdam UMC Ventures Holding and they put us in touch with Innovatiefonds in Noord-Holland. All these parties decided to invest in our company. This did allow us to continue developing NovoBioJect in the Netherlands.’
ROM InWest: more than just money
In the summer of 2025, Marguerite sat down with investment manager Sara Schaafsma of ROM InWest. Marguerite: ‘We were then able to show her that with the funding we had previously raised, we had actually taken steps towards the clinic. We receive not only financial support from ROM InWest, but also help in areas you cannot yet invest in as a small company, such as professional external communication. We appreciate that enormously. With Janet Nieboer in the position of CEO and Sara in the position of investment manager, ROM InWest brings diversity to our consortium of investing owners. We had earlier brought gender diversity into our management team by recruiting American Curtis Sprouse as Director Strategy. I am convinced that diversity in culture, gender and expertise can greatly enhance the dynamism and quality of a team and company. That also makes ROM InWest a special investor for me.’
Staying power
Marguerite concludes: ‘Despite the scepticism and headwinds, we have managed to enthuse many people about our idea in recent years. And despite that funding gap, we managed to raise enough venture capital to take our first steps into the clinic with NovoBioJect. That's a huge success! As a startup, you have to be able to move quickly when focal points change. That requires flexibility without panic. Our resilience and resilience has taken us very far in this. As founders, we have managed to gather around us a diverse team of benevolent people, all of whom are very knowledgeable and decisive and provide us with their expertise. This has brought us to where we are today. By now, it is clear that with Amplio Pharma ‘staying power’ have.’
