Physician qualified cardiology and intensive care he has over 30 years of experience in the industry at senior management level. Served as SVP for international development in the Sanofi Group and in the pharmaceutical division of Fournier Laboratories. He has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the French drug agency and Chairman of the Board of Hybrigenics SA and Novagali Pharma SA. He presently serves on the scientific advisory board of Valneva SA and in is an independent board member of Amryt Pharma plc (Nasdaq: AMYT), Auris Medical Holding AG (Nasdaq: EARS) and Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL).
Current board member, CEO and co-founder of ACTICOR BIOTECH, Gilles Avenard is also advisor for several biotech companies. Gilles is Medical Doctor and was the co-founder and COO of BioAlliance Pharma SA – ONXEO (NYSE EURONEXT) until 2010. He was notably involved in the development of several innovative medicines through to their official registration on both European and North American territories. Before that, he worked as Project Director for Hoechst Marion Roussel (Sanofi) and was Medical Director of Bio-Transfusion (LFB).
Senior Partner at Newton Biocapital, Guy Heynen has more than thirty years-experience in drug development (Pfizer, International Medical Director). Previous Board Director and Advisory Board Member of Ogeda (acquired by Astellas in 2017), actual Board Member of Chromacure SA, DIM3 and Ncardia. Presently serves as Chief Scientist and Regulatory as well as Senior Partner in Newton Biocapital Partners with office locations in Brussels and Tokyo.
Rinaldo Del Bono, founder of Mediolanum farmaceutici in 1972 in Milan, Italy, is an entrepreneur and executive within the pharmaceutical industry. His vision, since the founding days, was to distribute the company’s own products internationally and to significantly invest in innovation. Mediolanum farmaceutici is now a pharmaceutical group comprised of a dozen companies including Leurquin-Mediolanum Laboratories and Elsalys Biotech in France. In the past few years, the Mediolanum group has increased its R&D efforts by investing in several projects covering various therapeutic areas such as rheumatoid arthritis, endocrinology, ophthalmology and anti-cancer vaccination. Mediolanum has been an early investor in Acticor Biotech and glenzocimab R&D since 2016.
Honorary Professor of Hematology and Transfusion at the University of Strasbourg, Jean-Pierre Cazenave is also president of the Strasbourg medical research association ARMESA, president of the strategic committee of Health & Biotech France, and permanent member of the French National Academy of Medicine. After obtaining his medical degree in 1970 from the University of Strasbourg, he moved to Canada to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where he was appointed assistant professor of Pathology and worked towards a PhD on platelet physiology and pharmacology. Back in Strasbourg in 1978, he went on to work at the Blood Transfusion Center to ultimately create an INSERM research unit in 1986 dedicated to Biology and Pharmacology of Hemostasis and Thrombosis. From 1987 to 2013, he held the position of director at the Blood Transfusion Center EFS-Alsace in Strasbourg. Former president (1992-1995) and vice-president (2002-2010) of the Société Française de Transfusion Sanguine, he is currently member of several international medical societies and author of 620 scientific publications.
Managing Partner at Newton Biocapital, Director of Ogeda, Promethera Biosciences, Profibrix, Voluntis, NCardia (ex-Pluriomics) and Epics Therapeutics, Alain Parthoens was formerly chairman of the BVA and member of the Invest Europe VC council. Currently based in Brussels, he benefits from 20 years of experience in the food and biotech industries (Nestle, Monsanto/Searle, PWC) as well as from 15 years in venture capital (ING Bank, Vesalius Biocapital) during which he notably developed about 30 investments in early and neglected late-stage companies, typically as lead investor.
Patricia Zilliox, Ph.D. in Pharmacy, managed the ophthalmology clinical development programs as Senior Director Clinical Pharma at Alcon Laboratories in the US until 2011. Most recently, Patricia was responsible for identifying, funding and developing promising treatments for gene mutated retinal diseases at the Clinical Research Institute, a division of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, in Columbia, Maryland. Since 2017, she has been President and CEO of Eyevensys, a biotech company developing a non-viral gene therapy platform for the treatment of retinal diseases.