Founders

Dr Jacky Vonderscher, PhD, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

Jacky Vonderscher

  • Founder of Vonderscher&Co GmbH
  • Senior executive with a broad R&D experience in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Most recently Senior VP Head of Translation Research Sciences at Roche in USA and Switzerland (2010-2012)
  • Senior VP head of Molecular Medicine Labs at Roche (2008-2010)
  • Previously held other senior positions with Novartis in the USA and Switzerland (1979 to 2008)
  • Known for his leading role in the discovery and development of Sandimmum Neoral® in the 90s
  • Co-inventor on the first patents of Mycophenolic Acid Sodium salt (Myfortic® Product) and of Everolimus (Certican® and Afinitor® Products)
  • Board member of Inatherys, Step Pharma and ObsEva and SAB member of Inotrem SA
  • Board member of LyonBiopôle and IMI-JU (Innovative Medicines Initiative-Joint Undertaking)

Laurène Meyniel-Schicklin, Engineer, co-founder and Head of Bioinformatics

Laurène Meyniel-Schicklin

  • 15 years experience in omics data management and analysis for drug discovery Team and project leader, responsible for bioinformatics, scientific data management and analysis
  • Engineer in Biology and Computer Science (Genopole, Evry)
  • 20 publications, inventor on 3 patents
  • Forbes: Top 50 Women in Tech 2018

Dr Benoît de Chassey, PhD, co-founder and Head of Drug Discovery Platform

Benoît de Chassey

  • Responsible for the drug discovery plateform of ENYO Pharma
  • 18 years experience in high-throughput approaches in drug discovery
  • Former project leader in functional screenings at Aptanomics
  • 23 publications, inventor on 14 patents

Pr Patrice André, MD, PhD, co-founder and Medical Advisor

Patrice André

  • Professor Emeritus of Virology at Charles Mérieux Lyon Sud Medical School, Lyon 1 University
  • Former Head of clinical virology department at the Hospices Civils de Lyon
  • Former Team leader at the International Center for Infectiology Research, Inserm, CNRS, ENS Lyon
  • > 200 publications in international peer review and high-impact journals, inventor on 7 patents
  • Co-founder and President of Hormae Pharma

Dr Vincent Lotteau, PhD, co-founder and Scientific Advisor

Vincent Lotteau

  • Inserm Research Director, Immunologist
  • Team leader at the International Center for Infectiology Research
  • Former director of Inserm Unit « Fundamental and clinical immunology »
  • Participated to several governmental missions
  • Post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University and Scripps Clinic Research Foundation
  • > 100 publications, Inventor on 11 patents
  • Co-founder of Hormae Pharma

Dr Jean-Jacques Garaud, MD, co-founder

Jean-Jacques Garaud

  • CEO of Inotrem SA from 2013 to 2021
  • Executive vice-president Medical and Scientific Affairs, Inotrem SA
  • A senior executive with a broad R&D experience in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Most recently Executive VP Head of Pharma Research and Early Development at Roche (2010 to 2012)
  • Executive VP Head of Development and Chief Medical Officer at Roche (2007 to 2010)
  • Previously held other senior positions with Shering-Plough in the USA (1991 to 2001) and with Novartis in the USA and Switzerland (2001 to 2007)
  • Known for his leading role in the development of Interferon alpha, ribavirin and PEG-interferon in hepatitis C virus in the 90s

Inserm Transfert Initiative, co-founder

Inserm Transfert Initiative

  • Created in 2005, Inserm Transfert Initiative is a seed-capital company with € 39.7 M capital, further to its second fund raising in 2012.
  • It focuses on providing seed capital for innovative young companies in the biomedical field. Inserm Transfert Initiative supports biotech entrepreneurs in the early stages of their companies’ development.
  • Its current shareholders are BPI France, Inserm Transfert SA, AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, GlaxoSmithKline, Ipsen, LFB, MSD (Merck & Co), Pfizer, Sanofi, SHAM, Shire.

www.it-initiative.fr