About us

Lys Therapeutics, first-in-class biotherapies against neurological diseases

Meet our team

Dr. Manuel BLANC, PhD, MBA

Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, President of the Strategic Committee

Philippe DUJARDIN

Co-founder, Chief Financial Officer, member of the Strategic Committee

Pr. Denis VIVIEN, PhD, PU-PH

Head of Science, President of the Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Nathalie DELETAGE, PhD

Senior Program Manager, Preclinical R&D

Dr. Flavie LESEPT, PhD

Program Manager, Preclinical R&D

Dr. Fanny POTZEHA, PhD

Project Manager, Preclinical R&D

Dr. Jean-Baptiste BERTRAND, PhD

Head of Clinical Operations

Dr. François FOSSIEZ, PhD

Head of CMC

Werner KLINGER

Head of IT and data protection

Strategic Board

Dr. Pierre BELICHARD, PhD, MBA

Member of the Strategic Board

Dr. Pierre MORGON, PharmD, LL.M, MBA

Member of the Strategic Board

Philippe BISSAY, MBA

Member of the Strategic Board

Dr. Thibault HONEGGER, PhD

Member of the Strategic Board

Scientific Advisory Board

President of the SAB: Pr. Denis Vivien (PhD, PU-PH), France, co-inventor of Glunomab & expert of tPA, head of the Research Institute “Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie”

Pr. Diederik DIPPEL (MD, PhD), the Netherlands, neurologist, co-director of the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam

Pr. Joan MONTANER (MD, PhD), Spain, neurologist, head of Neurovascular Research at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute

Pr. Richard Macrez (MD, PhD), France, co-inventor of Glunomab, Professor and emergency physician, head of the Emergency Unit at Caen-Normandie Hospital

Dr. Désiré COLLEN (MD, PhD), Belgium, inventor of rtPA (alteplase) still the most effective drug for thrombolytic therapy of acute myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke

Pr. Yannick BÉJOT (MD, PhD), France, neurologist, head of Neurology at Dijon-Bourgogne hospital

Via BB@C Institute: Pr. Eng Lo (MD, PhD), USA, neurologist, Professor of Neurology and Radiology, Harvard Medical School, and Research Staff, Massachusetts General Hospital

Via BB@C Institute: Pr. Martin Dichgans (MD, PhD), Germany, neurologist, Director of the Institute of Stroke and Dementia Research (Medical Center of the University of Munich), head of the World Stroke Organization

Other partners

See all

Science

A unique mechanism of action: a CNS drug which does not need to cross the blood-brain barrier

Glunozumab: a monoclonal antibody counteracting the neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative processes implicated in the pathophysiology of neurological diseases by restoring the physiological function of the blood-brain barrier

Glunozumab schema therapeutic activities 04

Restoration of the physiological function of the blood-brain barrier: targeting neuroinflammation to tackle neurodegeneration

An endogenous protease called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has been demonstrated to be involved in the pathophysiology of neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, ischemic stroke and other neurodegenerative disorders through its overexpression and binding to NMDA receptors (NMDAr) present on vascular endothelial cells and regulating blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability. Hyperactivation of vascular NMDA receptors leads to BBB dysfunction via increased permeability allowing transmigration of toxic inflammatory cells to the brain parenchyma resulting in severe neuroinflammation and ultimately neuronal degeneration.

By blocking the tPA-NMDAr interaction inside the blood vessels, Glunozumab is restoring both NMDAr and blood-brain barrier physiological functioning (no perturbation of basal function), blocking the associated neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative processes.

This unique mechanism of action implies that Glunozumab does not need to cross the BBB to act on the central nervous system, which is a distinctive feature for the treatment of neurological diseases.