Dr. Manuel BLANC
Co-founder
Chief Executive Officer
President of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Dr. Manuel BLANC brings 15 years of experience in Preclinical and Clinical Project Management, Strategy & Business Development in the biotech – pharma – healthcare industry, with track-record of pharmaceutical product development from in vitro to clinical trial, and is inventor of several granted patent families. He is a former manager at SANOFI and SANOFI Pasteur (Corporate Strategic Intelligence), Project Leader at ERYTECH pharma (Business Development & Licensing) and Chief Scientific Officer & Head of Corporate Development of other startups specialized in neuroscience. He is also founder of PODEMA consulting and cofounder of J2V Capital.
Dr. BLANC received his MSc in biochemistry and structural biology from Grenoble Alpes University (France), his PhD in protein biochemistry from Keele University (U.K.) and his MBA in biotechnology & pharmaceutical management from Grenoble Graduate School of Business (France).
Philippe DUJARDIN
Co-founder
Chief Financial Officer
Member of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Philippe DUJARDIN brings 30+ years of experience in high-growth companies. Previously Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Awabot, Chief Financial Officer of Erytech Pharma, he was also Director of Financing and Investor Relations at Infogrames / Atari Group and CFO and Head of Development of BOOSTHEAT as well as Chief Executive Officer of BOOSTHEAT France. Philippe Dujardin is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Reims and of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Lyon, France. In June 2021, Philippe has been appointed as an independent director of the Board of Directors of Amoeba. Philippe is also co-founder of J2V Capital.
Pr. Denis VIVIEN
President of the Scientific Advisory Board
Chief Scientific Officer
Inventor of Glunomab
Pr. Denis VIVIEN is Professor of Cellular Biology and Hospital Practitioner (Caen-Normandie University / Caen-Normandie Hospital). Pr. Vivien is heading two departments in Caen-Normandie Public Hospital (Diagnostics and Therapeutic Innovations, and Biological Resources Center), he is managing director of the Research Institute “Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie” (BB@C), and is director of the Inserm – Caen Normandie University unit “Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders” (PhIND, UMR-S U1237) located in the in vivo imaging center Cyceron. Pr. Denis VIVIEN is also scientific director of the IBiSA “Experimental Stroke Research” platform (ESRP) and currently leads the AVC AVIESAN network project. Pr. Denis Vivien was president of the CNU of Neurosciences for many years, and member of the Inserm specialist commission in Neurosciences. He published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and is the inventor of several granted patent families.
Dr. Jean-Baptiste BERTRAND
Head of Clinical Operations
Dr. Jean-Baptiste BERTRAND brings 18+ years of experience in medical research from R&D to clinical trials, including 14 years of experience working for biotech companies. He has a broad knowledge of product development and hands-on experience in tracking complex scientific projects. Jean-Baptiste was previously Preclinical Project Manager at Geneuro Innovation where he supervised the in vivo evaluation of monoclonal antibodies in animal models for the treatment of neurological disorders (multiple sclerosis, psychotic disorders) and then Clinical Project Manager at Erytech Pharma where he managed several global clinical trials (several phases 2). He holds a PhD in Neurosciences (Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France) completed by a qualification training of Clinical Research Assistant.
Jean-Baptiste joined Lys Therapeutics in 2022 as Head of Clinical Operations.
Dr. Nathalie DELETAGE
Senior Program Manager, Preclinical R&D
Dr. Nathalie DELÉTAGE brings 25+ years of academic and industrial experience in R&D and preclinical drug development. Following her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and her post-doctoral position at the Faculty of Medicine of Geneva (Switzerland), she joined a biopharmaceutical company and contributed to the development of first-in-class disease-modifying drugs to treat patients with neurodegenerative or traumatic neurological disorders from discovery to clinical trials.
Dr. Nathalie DELÉTAGE joined Lys Therapeutics in 2022 as Senior Program Manager, Preclinical R&D.
Dr. Flavie LESEPT
Program manager, preclinical R&D
Dr. Flavie LESEPT brings 12+ years of experience in R&D and preclinical development. Flavie is specialized in neurosciences and research project management, with experience in managing and supervising multi-approaches projects on neurodegenerative diseases, neurological disorders and brain development. She got her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology and Neuroscience at Caen Normandy University, France and have been rewarded with a European Fellowship (Individual Marie Curie Fellowship) as a postdoctoral researcher at UCL, UK. Flavie joined Lys Therapeutics in 2021 as Preclinical R&D Project Manager.
Dr. Fanny POTZEHA
Project Manager, Preclinical R&D
Dr. Fanny POTZEHA brings 10 years in R&D and preclinical development with a specialization in neurosciences and research project management, with experience in managing and supervising multiapproach projects on neurological disorders, translational therapy and brain development. PhD in Life and Health Sciences and Neurosciences at Caen Normandy University, France.
Dr. Fanny POTZEHA joined Lys Therapeutics in 2021 as Project Manager, Preclinical R&D.
Dr. François FOSSIEZ
Head of CMC
Dr. François FOSSIEZ brings 30+ years of experience in the biotech and pharma sector, especially in CMC and pharmaceutical development. Following is PhD in Virology at Institut Armand-Frappier in Canada, François spent 25 years in pharmaceutical laboratories, managing R&D and development projects encompassing the co-discovery of Interleukin-17, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, cell therapy projects as well as managing research and GMP production teams (including Merck Serono, Genopoïetic/Avax Technologies and Schering-Plough). Since 2014, François acted as free-lance consultant for biopharmaceutical startups to support their transition from research to clinical development and the production of clinical grade pharmaceuticals. He joined Lys Therapeutics in 2021 as head of CMC to develop the portfolio of therapeutic antibodies and lead the CMC activities
Werner KLINGER
Head of IT and data protection
Werner KLINGER brings 20+ years of project management experience in IT and data protection in various technical areas (computer motherboard, IOT, WEB, telecom…) including health-related data. Werner is an expert in information technology and in data privacy.
Strategic Board
Dr. Pierre BELICHARD
Member of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Co-founder and CEO of Enterome, Pierre brings more than 20 years of successful experience in healthcare companies. Prior to starting Enterome in 2012, Pierre spent 2 years at Sanofi leading Business Development, Licensing and Acquisitions within the Ophthalmology division. He was in 2005 manager in residence at Sofinnova Partners (Paris) where he put in place the business plan, organization, and financing of a new company named Fovea Pharmaceuticals. Pierre has then served as COO of this retinal disease venture that was acquired in 2009 by Sanofi.
Earlier in his career, Pierre held various business or commercial positions in companies like UroGene, Fournier or Ethypharm.
As a biotechnology entrepreneur, he has co-founded several companies including Maat Pharma, Targedys, Monabee, Athena, Cytis, and Opia. Pierre also sits on different company boards. Pierre holds an MBA from INSEAD and a PhD from the University of Paris.
Dr. Pierre MORGON
Member of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Pierre A. MORGON is CEO of MRGN Advisors, Executive Vice President, Portfolio Strategy and Supranational Affairs at CanSino Biologics and Regional Partner for Switzerland at Merieux Equity Partners.
Pierre has over 35 years of experience in the global life science industry, especially with specialty care, vaccines and immunotherapy, at the helm of international operations, in C-level positions at global level in multinational corporations and as CEO of start-up companies.
He is Chairman of the Boards of Theradiag, Eurocine Vaccines, MYCB1, Adiposs, Kupando and Health Technologies Holding, as well as Non-Executive Director to the Boards of Vaccitech, Univercells, Amoeba and Limula.
He is a lecturer in several MBA programs and in life science conferences, and at the Mass Challenge incubator in Switzerland where he is also a mentor for start-up life sciences companies.
He holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy, a Master in Business Law and a MBA, and he is an alumnus of INSEAD and IMD.
Philippe BISSAY
Member of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Since 2017 Philippe Bissay is founder and C.E.O. of H.A.C. Pharma, a French independent pharmaceutical company.
Before H.A.C.Pharma, Philippe spent fifteen years in different international pharmaceutical companies managing international commercial activities around the globe.
Philippe is also an active investor in various healthcare start-ups.
Philippe holds a Master in Financial Audit and Control from the University Paris Dauphine and a Master in Management from IAE Management School
Dr. Thibault HONEGGER
Co-founder
Member of the Strategic Board of Lys Therapeutics
Dr. Thibault HONEGGER is a serial entrepreneur, he co-founded several startups related to science and innovation, Peerus in 2015, Linkio in 2015 and Smart Force Technologies in 2016. In 2018, he co-founded NETRI, a company specialized in organ-on-chips aiming to accelerate medical and pharmaceutical research where he is still the CEO. Thibault graduated as an engineer from the Ecole Centrale of Nantes (France), received his MSc in Biotechnologies and his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Grenoble Alpes University (France). He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Voldman lab at MIT (USA) where he developed and investigated axonal guidance using contactless forces to design neural circuits. He then joined CNRS (France) as a principal investigator to lead the microfluidics neuro-engineering team. He published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers and is the inventor of 8 granted patent families.