KEY PEOPLE

Florence Séjourné graduated from MINES ParisTech in 1994 with a specialization in biotechnology, and from the University of Illinois in Chicago with a Master’s degree in Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1996. She started her career managing the biotechnology department of Eurasanté, one of the first French bioincubators, and was in charge of the valorization of regional research and of company creation. Prior to joining Da Volterra in 2008 as President and CEO, Florence co-founded Genfit (Euronext GNFT), a leading biotech company in the field of metabolic and inflammatory diseases, in 1999. As Director of Operations, Business Development and Alliances, and member of the Executive Board, she has greatly contributed to the development of the company, including its successful IPO in 2006. Florence Séjourné brings to Da Volterra the experience of successful entrepreneurial ventures, her ability to build and lead a highly professional R&D organization, to raise private and public funds, and to structure and negotiate agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in a highly competitive international environment.
Florence Séjourné also co-founded the BEAM Alliance, an association of more than 70 European biopharmaceutical companies involved in the development of innovative products to fight antibiotic resistance.

After graduating from the École Agronomique de Paris, Jean de Gunzburg became a molecular and cell biologist and, after a successful academic career, he decided to dedicate his experience and know-how to the development of Da Volterra. After obtaining his PhD in 1985 from the University of Paris 7 for work done at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Jean continued his training with a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (Cambridge). In 1988, he became Director of Research at the CNRS and headed the Inserm Laboratory of Signal Transduction and Oncogenesis at the Institut Curie in Paris until mid-2005. He has published more than 70 articles in international journals in fields ranging from biochemistry and molecular biology to cell biology.

Stéphane Postic, a graduate in finance and management from EM Lyon Business School, has held several finance management positions in large international retail companies such as Kering and Carrefour. He was responsible for the financial reporting and management of several business units in France and in the UK and has acquired a solid experience in profit center management. From April 2002, he has supervised the administrative and financial teams of Genfit (Euronext GNFT) and was in charge of financial and commercial control, general administration, human resources and corporate reporting functions, working closely with the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Officer. In charge of Genfit’s IPO in 2006, he has acquired a strong experience in biotech financing. He joined Da Volterra in 2008.
Stéphane Postic brings a wealth of technical expertise in finance and business administration as well as strategic advice to the Management team.

Fabien Vitry is a medical graduate from the University of Reims, with a specialization in public health. He holds a postgraduate degree in clinical epidemiology and evaluation of health actions from the Universities of the North-East region. He worked for 5 years as a hospital practitioner at the University Hospital of Reims, where he managed a clinical research unit.
Fabien Vitry has a global experience of more than 15 years in the medical and clinical teams of large pharmaceutical companies (Boehringer-Ingelheim, Servier). He has mainly led clinical development projects in the respiratory, metabolic and oncology fields and has held medical management and project management positions, most recently on an allogeneic CAR-T product in hemato-oncology.
Fabien Vitry brings 20 years of medical experience in innovative clinical development, including oncology, to Da Volterra, and is in charge of elaborating the medical strategy for product candidates, establishing clinical development plans in collaboration with regulatory authorities, and supervising their implementation with his team. He is also responsible for the safety and risk assessment of product candidates and supervises in particular the vigilance and medical information activities.

Karine Bertrand graduated from ESPCI ParisTech (École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles) and holds a PhD in Medicinal and Organic Chemistry from the University of Lille. Karine started her career at UCB Pharma and then joined Genfit (Euronext: GNFT) where she held several senior positions (Director of Pharmaceutical and Analytical Chemistry and Development, Director of Strategic Planning and Program Management, and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development).
With more than 20 years of experience in R&D and pharmaceutical project management, she has a broad range of expertise covering the design and operational and technical management of pharmaceutical discovery, development, manufacturing and control programs, as well as the definition and implementation of regulatory strategies for products up to the point where they are marketed as drugs and medical devices. She has negotiated agreements with pharmaceutical raw material manufacturers and suppliers from all continents and has overseen the manufacture of several tons of GMP products throughout her career. Director of Product Development at Da Volterra since 2015, Karine Bertrand is responsible for the design, development and manufacturing of the company’s products. In particular, she is the architect of Da Volterra’s strong scale-up of production capabilities and is now preparing the company’s industrial tool for the first commercialization.

Pierre-Alain Bandinelli graduated from École Polytechnique and MINES ParisTech with a specialization in biology, data analysis and management of innovative companies. He joined Da Volterra at the end of 2009 after working at the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA) to develop new tissue engineering solutions. He is the author of a dozen publications and posters in pharmaco-economics and medical sciences. Pierre-Alain is also the founder of a company that develops expert software for the aeronautical industry. He is experienced in managing innovative projects and structuring companies. With 10 years of experience in intellectual property, he has coordinated the filing of 14 patent families and has helped obtain about 100 patents in all geographical areas of the world. In charge of partnerships, he has successfully negotiated more than 10 public and private collaborations for a total amount of 30 M€. With a broad knowledge of the development of new high-tech products such as pharmaceuticals, he has played a major role in defining Da Volterra’s orientations and has been at the origin of the creation of the company’s market access, marketing and data mining departments. Under his leadership, the market access strategies for the pipeline products have been clarified and some have already been validated by some of the most demanding authorities. With the other members of the Management team, Pierre-Alain is committed to continuing the transformation of Da Volterra into a pharmaceutical champion in the field of the microbiome and related pathologies.

Frédérique Sablier-Gallis joined the Da Volterra team in 2009 after obtaining her PhD in Pharmacy from the Catholic University of Louvain (Brussels) and a specialization in clinical biology with 3 years of internship in the departments of analytical chemistry (Hôpital Saint Luc, Brussels), microbiology and hematology (Hôpital Sainte Elisabeth, Brussels).
Upon her arrival at Da Volterra, Frédérique Sablier-Gallis successfully set up and organized the activities of the company’s microbiology laboratory. She then took charge of the coordination of the R&D programs in their preclinical phases, in close collaboration with the Chief Scientific Officer, and now manages all the collaborators of the company’s scientific team. With a strong background in medical microbiology, she brings essential expertise in characterizing the protection of the intestinal microbiome of the company’s product candidates, both in non-clinical and clinical studies.

Sakina Sayah-Jeanne holds a PhD in molecular and cellular biology and a specialization in neuroscience (INSERM laboratory and Rouen Faculty of Science). She started her career in 1999 at Innothera as a project manager in charge of screening and identification of drug candidates on a new therapeutic target (neurogenic inflammation). She then joined Genfit (Euronext GNFT) in 2003, where she collaborated with several pharmaceutical partners and quickly became Scientific Director in charge of the transversal management of drug R&D projects in different therapeutic areas (cardiometabolics, neurology).
Sakina Sayah-Jeanne joined Da Volterra in 2011 to coordinate the company’s preclinical activities, before being appointed Director of Transversal and Translational R&D. Working closely with the medical and clinical team, the scientific teams and numerous external experts, her mission is to produce decision support and risk management elements for the efficacy and safety profile of candidate products, scientific and strategic arguments for submission to regulatory agencies, as well as to lead the transversal management of projects. Sakina brings to Da Volterra 20 years of experience in non-clinical, cross-functional and translational R&D, in scientific support of regulatory affairs and development of the company’s portfolio to market.

Virginie Coste holds a Master Degree in Control and Quality Assurance of Drug Products (Faculty of Pharmacy Paris XI). Virginie first worked at Genfit (Nasdaq & Euronext: GNFT) as Quality and Regulatory Affairs Assistant and then at the CRO Naturalpha where she spent 12 years at a senior position (Quality and Regulatory Affairs Director, senior Consultant). She was in charge of QMS set-up and maintenance, regulatory watch at international level (human and veterinary drugs, medical devices, nutraceuticals), all submission procedures for clinical trials, and conduct of GxP audits and trainings.

Regulatory Affairs & Quality Director at Da Volterra since 2017, Virginie is responsible for implementing the company’s regulatory strategy and quality policy to ensure the application of the regulations and standards for all activities of the company.  She coordinates the regulatory operations related to the development, registration and maintenance of marketing authorization & CE Mark for Da Volterra’s products (as drug or medical device) both in US and EU, and supports the Medical, Clinical, and Product teams on their activities related to regulatory affairs and quality assurance.

Virginie is an expert in coordinating filings and obligations in respect of drug and medical device regulations in the USA with the FDA and in Europe with competent authorities and notified bodies.

She brings to Da Volterra more than 15 years of experience in regulatory affairs and quality system management in both biotech companies and CROs.

Khoso Baluch has over 36 years of experience across global geographies, most recently as CEO and Board member of CorMedix Inc., a publicly-traded US company. Prior to joining CorMedix Inc., Khoso worked for 8 years for the global biopharmaceutical company UCB, notably as Senior Vice President & President European Region. He also worked for Eli Lilly & Co for 24 years, holding international positions spanning Europe, the Middle East and the United States in General Management, Business Development, Market Access and Product leadership.
Khoso is currently a Board member at Poxel Pharma, a French publicly traded Biotech company. He also sits on the Strategic Advisory Committee for Morningside Biopharma Advisory. Skilled at building strategic partnerships and driving market entry and expansion, Khoso successfully led U.S. and international commercial teams in primary care, specialty, and hospital segments.

Nabil Abadir is a Medical Doctor with over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He graduated from the Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine in 1983 before joining the life science industry.
His experience includes working in small companies (Ferring Pharma, Clementia, Amarin) as well as major pharma companies (Novartis, Sanofi, Abbott, Schering Plough & Merck). He led the local medical department as VP Medical for Schering Plough Canada before heading Merck’s Medical Affairs organization for Europe, Canada, Middle East and Africa region based in Switzerland. Nabil then was nominated as the Executive VP for Clementia Pharma, a Canadian start-up biotech company until its acquisition by Ipsen Pharma. He led the Global Medical Affairs organization for Novartis Gene Therapy. Dr. Abadir is Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Medical Affairs Amarin since April 2022.

Throughout his career he successfully built and strengthened a number of medical organizations at the local, regional and global level: he created multiple best practices, SOPs, guidelines, asset life cycles, real-life data generation and dissemination plans including Health Economic data to support the pricing and reimbursement of various assets. His extensive experience covers a wide range of therapy areas, including oncology and anti-infectives. He also experienced a number of acquisitions and mergers and participated in multiple business development deals.

Florence Séjourné graduated from MINES ParisTech in 1994 with a specialization in biotechnology, and from the University of Illinois in Chicago with a Master’s degree in Bioengineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1996. She started her career managing the biotechnology department of Eurasanté, one of the first French bioincubators, and was in charge of the valorization of regional research and of company creation. Prior to joining Da Volterra in 2008 as President and CEO, Florence co-founded Genfit (Euronext GNFT), a leading biotech company in the field of metabolic and inflammatory diseases, in 1999. As Director of Operations, Business Development and Alliances, and member of the Executive Board, she has greatly contributed to the development of the company, including its successful IPO in 2006. Florence Séjourné brings to Da Volterra the experience of successful entrepreneurial ventures, her ability to build and lead a highly professional R&D organization, to raise private and public funds, and to structure and negotiate agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in a highly competitive international environment.
Florence Séjourné also co-founded the BEAM Alliance, an association of more than 70 European biopharmaceutical companies involved in the development of innovative products to fight antibiotic resistance.

Jean de Gunzburg is a cell and molecular biologist who had an academic career in public institutions in the field of cancer research in France and the United States from 1978 to 2005. Trained at the Institut Pasteur in Paris (France) and at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (Cambridge, MA, USA), Jean’s last position in his academic career was as Director of the Signal Transduction and Oncogenesis Laboratory, INSERM U528, at the Institut Curie in Paris. Director of Research at the CNRS, Jean is the author of more than 80 publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

In 2005, Jean moved from academic research to the biotech industry and became the Scientific Director and one of the main investors of Da Volterra. He has been involved in all phases of the company’s and its products’ development since then, and has also represented Da Volterra at numerous international scientific conferences.

In addition, Jean was one of the main investors in Mobidiag, a Finnish company that develops, manufactures and sells molecular diagnostic systems, mainly in the field of infectious diseases, recently acquired by Hologic. He is also a board member of Cardiawave, a French biotech company developing ultrasound-based devices for the non-invasive treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as heart valve calcification.

Charles Heilbronn holds a law degree from the University of Paris V and a Master of Laws from New York University.

Mr. Heilbronn has occupied and still holds Executive and Board positions notably in luxury goods companies and NASDAQ listed firms. Charles brings to Da Volterra his strong experience in the management of growth international companies and investments mostly in the US.

Prof. Antoine Andremont MD, PhD (France), is amongst the leading international experts of the consequences of antibiotics on the evolution of bacterial resistance and on the occurrence of healthcare-acquired infections. He is the author of over 250 international publications and has filed 5 patents dealing with mechanisms of resistance. Pr. Antoine Andremont has also been part of the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) and the EU Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) as an expert and a scientific advisor. Primarily trained as a pediatrician and microbiologist, both in France and in the USA, he worked for 17 years at the Medical Microbiology Laboratory of the Gustave Roussy Institute, the most important French center for cancer research and treatment. He then directed the Bacteriology Laboratory of the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital Group for 25 years. Professor Andremont is the scientific founder of Da Volterra and benefiting from his expertise is a major success factor for Da Volterra.

Prof. Mark Wilcox MD, (England), is the Lead on Clostridium difficile for Public Health England (PHE) and is the National Clinical Director for Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Resistance at NHS England. He is a Consultant Microbiologist and Infection Lead for the National Institutes of Health Research Leeds MIC at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT), and Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds (Leeds Institute of Medical Research). He has formerly been the Director of Infection Prevention, Infection Control Doctor and Clinical Director of Pathology at LTHT.

Prof. Maria J.G.T. Vehreschild, MD (Germany), is a specialist in internal medicine, infectious disease and hematology/oncology. Her clinical research focuses on approaches targeting the microbiome. She is the Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University Hospital Frankfurt and is a leading provider of fecal microbiota transfers in Germany. She is the European coordinator of the MICROCARE Phase 3 study conducted by Da Volterra.

Prof. Yehuda Carmeli MD, PhD (Israel), is the head of the National Institute for Antibiotic Resistance and Infection Control, at the Tel Aviv Medical Center.

Dr. Thomas J. Louie, MD (Canada), is a Clinical Professor of Medicine (Emeritus) in the departments of medicine and microbiology-immunology & infectious diseases at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Formerly head of the division of infectious diseases and formerly lead infection control physician in the Calgary health region, he continues to serve as an Infection Prevention & Control officer at Alberta Health Services and has been a long term clinical investigator on microbiome sparing antimicrobials for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection. He is also a pioneer in the use of fecal microbiota transplantation and has been an investigator in multiple FMT protocols. The main theme of research is hospital epidemiology, microbial ecology, antibiotic resistance, restoration of and role of the microbiome in health and disease.

Prof. Stephan Harbarth, MD (Switzerland), Chief of the Prevention Unit for Nosocomial Infections of the Geneva Hospital, is a distinguished infectious diseases specialist and hospital epidemiologist who has published more than 300 original articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is responsible for the STAT-NET project within COMBACTE-NET aiming at the implementation of innovative clinical development strategies.

Prof. Marc Bonten, MD, PhD (The Netherlands), is leading the research group of infectious Disease Epidemiology of the Julius Center of Health Sciences and Primary Care, at the UMC Utrecht, where he is professor of molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases. He is also the Scientific Director of the research theme “Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance” of the Netherlands Centre for One Health and the chairman of the focus area Infection & Immunity at the UMC Utrecht. Pr. Bonten has been the principal investigator of numerous large-scale epidemiological studies, he coordinates the COMBACTE-NET program with Da Volterra and co-coordinates the ECRAID (European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases) plan with Pr. Herman Goossens.

Prof. Herman Goossens, MD (Belgium), is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Antwerp where he heads the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology. This laboratory is part of PREPARE, the European Union’s platform for European preparedness against emerging epidemics, and RECOVER, Rapid European COVID-19 Emergency Research response, both of which he is the coordinator. He is one of the major opinion leaders on antibiotic resistance in Europe and co-coordinates the ECRAID (European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases) plan with Pr. Marc Bonten.

Prof. Oliver Cornely is Director & Chair of Translational Research at the CECAD Institute of the University of Cologne, and Scientific Director of the Centre for Clinical Trials both located at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.  He is board certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, hematology, oncology, and emergency medicine, and holds degrees in medical mycology and travel medicine. Prof. Cornely is also a clinical infectious diseases consultant at the University Hospital of Cologne.

Prof. France Mentré, MD, PhD (France), is a biomedical expert in Public health and Pharmacology & Toxicology. Her research has focused on biostatistical modelling and pharmacometrics for more than 25 years. Since 2000, France Mentré is a Professor of Biostatistics at Paris University, School of Medicine.

Prof. Jennifer Dressman, PhD recently retired from her position as Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at J.W. Goethe University and is now collaborating with the Fraunhofer Institute of Translational Medicine and Pharmacology in Frankfurt. She is expert in predictive models for the delivery of drugs via the gastrointestinal tract. Specialist in gastroenterological physiology and drug delivery/absorption in the GI tract, Pr. Dressman advises Da Volterra on the development and testing of colonic drug delivery systems.

Dr. Renaud Buffet, MD (France), is a researcher at the Saint-Louis Hospital (Paris, France) and a consultant in Translational and Clinical Research in Onco-hematology and Immunotherapy. He has more than 30 years of experience in the clinical development of products in transplantation, hemato-oncology and immuno-oncology, including 10 years at Innate Pharma.

Prof. Marcel van den Brink is a medical oncologist who performs both laboratory and clinical research related to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and immuno-oncology. He is the Head of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and holds a joint appointment in the Immunology and Transplantation Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. He is the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MSKCC and Chairman of the Board of DKMS, an international nonprofit organization devoted to bone marrow donor registration. As a clinical scientist, he is involved in immunotherapeutic trials of cytokines, cell therapies, as well as strategies to manipulate the intestinal microbiome for patients with hematologic malignancies. His laboratory is devoted to the immunology of BMT and he studies immune reconstitution, pathophysiology of graft-versus-host disease, the intestinal microbiota, and chimeric antigen receptor T cells in patients and preclinical models.

Prof. Gérard Zalcman MD, PhD (France), is the Head of the Thoracic Oncology Department of the Bichat Hospital, in Paris (Université de Paris) and joined the U830 INSERM laboratory, « Genetics & Biology of cancers » at the Research Centre of the Curie Institute. In Jan. 2021 he was nominated Medical Director of the University North-Paris Institute of Cancer, a joint venture of 6 public university hospitals from North Paris area (Bichat, Lariboisière, Saint-Louis, Beaujon, Louis Mourier, Robert Debré) dedicated to cancer care and research. He is a member of ESMO, ASCO, IASLC, EACR and European Respiratory Society. He authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications  and he has been investigator of more than 50 phase I, II and III clinical trials during the last decade, in the field of lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Prof. Benjamin Besse, MD (France), is Director of the Department of Cancer Medicine at the Gustave Roussy Institute and Chairman of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Scientific Chairs Council. He specializes in the management of thoracic cancers, particularly lung cancer, and has been involved in many clinical studies evaluating novel immunotherapies.

Prof. Hossein Borghaei, MD (USA), is Director of the Division of Thoracic Medical Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology. He also co-directs the Immune Monitoring Facility. He is a specialist in the treatment of lung cancer.

Prof. Martin Reck, MD (Germany), is Director of the Department of Thoracic Oncology and Clinical Trials at the Grosshansdorf Lung Clinic. He is also a senior researcher at the German Lung Research Center (DZL) in the field of lung cancer.

Prof. Tony Mok, MD (Hong Kong), is Professor in the Department of Clinical Oncology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital. He is a specialist in the application of new therapeutic approaches in the treatment of lung cancer.

Prof. Enriqueta Felip is the Head of the Thoracic and Head and Neck Cancer Unit within the Oncology Department of Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. She is in charge of thoracic malignancy management, and is responsible for thoracic cancer trials undertaken by the Oncology Department. She is currently a member of the scientific comitee of Spanish Lung Cancer Group (SLCG), member of ESMO, ASCO and IASLC and she is the Vice-President of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Prof. Felip is also author of many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the field of thoracic malignancies.