Prof Klaus Wirth is a Medical Doctor and Professor in Pharmacology at the University of Frankfurt. Klaus has extensive experience in Experimental Pharmacology in numerous fields including cardiovascular pharmacology, the pharmacology of bradykinin antagonisms, cerebral blood flow, heart failure, arrhythmias, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and dysphagia.

As part of a 37 year career in Pharma Research while at Sanofi Aventis, Klaus developed an in-vivo experimental model of  OSA which was pivotal in the early R&D activities on AVE0118. After retiring from Sanofi, he then established KOSA Pharma GmbH to continue this work resulting in 2 compounds from Bayer and one device from Med-El Elekromedizinische entering clinical development for OSA.

In 2014, Klaus published the principal in-vivo methodology and experimental evidence of AVE0118 sensitizing the upper airway mechanoreceptors in anesthetized pigs (Wirth KJ, Steinmeyer K, Ruetten H.; Sleep. 2013 May 1;36(5):699-708. doi: 10.5665/sleep.2630). The method has been modified and further optimized by KOSA-Pharma.

In addition to his experience in OSA, Klaus has broad pharmacological expertise having developed new models for atrial fibrillation and cerebral blood flow. In the latter he has investigated almost all vasoactive drugs available.