Against the background of the vision and of the mission of Debiopharm Group, the Strategy Committee helps the shareholders and leadership of the group to anticipate, identify and understand the upcoming trends as well as to adapt in a timely and realistic manner to the key features of tomorrow's pharmaceutical industry.
President
 |
Kamel Besseghir
|
Members
 |
Rolland-Yves Mauvernay
|
Dr Mauvernay completed his medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Strasbourg, France and later obtained his Ph.D. in Biology, Bacteriology and Pharmacy. In 1953, he established RIOM Laboratories, in Auvergne, France and purchased several pharmaceutical laboratories and various rare molecules. In 1973, he sold RIOM and in 1979, founded Debiopharm S.A., a biopharmaceutical development company which fully funds and develops innovative therapeutics. He later created Debio R.P. S.A., specialising in the development of sustained-release advanced drug delivery systems and manufacturing. In 1993, he founded Debioclinic S.A., a clinical research organisation in Paris. Today, as President of Debiopharm Group, Dr Mauvernay heads a group of 300 employees, supported by 500 external experts, who are responsible for research and development.
 |
Thierry Mauvernay
|
Mr. Mauvernay received his Master of Science in Economics in 1975. He then obtained a degree (MBA) from the 'Institut d'Administration des Entreprises’ and a ‘Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées en Marketing’ (MA) in Clermont-Ferrand, France in 1976. In 1978, he founded an international cosmetics company, which he later sold but continued to manage until July 2001, when he joined Debiopharm S.A. as Executive Vice President with direct responsibilities for the Finance and Administration Department. In 2006, Mr Mauvernay handed over his operational activities within Debiopharm S.A. and has since been focusing on the administration, finance and strategy of Debiopharm Group. Thierry Mauvernay is Executive Vice President of Debiopharm Group.
 |
Benoît Dubuis
|
Dr Dubuis, completed his chemistry studies at the EPFL (Lausanne) and ETH (Zurich). He brings 17 years of international experience in the field of life sciences. He occupied different management positions at Ciba-Geigy/Novartis and Lonza. Dr Dubuis then joined the EPFL in 2000, as Licensing Executive and adviser for the school management. He established the School of Life Sciences and served as its first Dean. He also launched BioAlps, of which he is the current president, and founded Excellgene SA. In 2004 he co-founded Eclosion, the first Swiss life sciences seed-fund and incubator. He advises various pharmaceutical and biotech companies and serves on several Boards and Advisory Boards. He has also published numerous articles and books in the field of biotechnology and science communication (www.clefs-du-savoir.com/; www.inartis.ch).
 |
Bertrand Ducrey
|
Dr Ducrey received his Diploma of Pharmacy from the School of Pharmacy of Lausanne University, Switzerland in 1990 and then obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1995. He joined Debio R.P. in 1995 as Pharmaceutical Project Manager. He spent two years at Debiopharm S.A. as Innovative Formulation Manager. In 2004, he returned to Debio R.P. S.A. to head the company as Chief Executive Officer. Since 2012, Dr Ducrey heads Debiopharm SA as CEO.
 |
Wolf H. Fridman
|
Prof. Fridman received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Paris. After 10 years in the laboratory headed by Jean Dausset, he created his own laboratory at the Cancer Research Centre in Villejuif in 1976, moved to Institut Curie in 1983 and is presently Director of the Cordeliers Research Centre, a joint research structure between INSERM, University Paris Descartes and University Pierre & Marie Curie. Prof. Fridman's research interests have been focused around the role of the immune system in controlling human tumours and the biological functions of receptors for IgG antibodies, both through basic and translational approaches. His work in cancer immunology has opened the way for immune-based tools for efficient prognosis and therapy of cancers. His current appointments are Professor of Immunology and Vice-Dean at the Medical School Paris Descartes, Director of the Cordeliers Research Centre, Paris and Head of the Immunology Laboratory, Hospital European Georges Pompidou, Paris.
 |
Rudi Pauwels
|
Dr Pauwels, a scientist-entrepreneur, completed his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1990) at the Rega Institute for Medical Research (University of Leuven) in Belgium. He co-founded Tibotec in 1994 with his wife pharmacist Carine Claeys. Tibotec became one of the most productive companies in the field of anti-HIV drug discovery, successfully developing several next generation anti-HIV drugs with improved drug-resistance profiles. In 1995, together with Dr Paul Stoffels, Rudi co-founded Virco, a company aiming at the improvement of the management of HIV/AIDS patients, using new molecular diagnostic tools for personalised HIV drug resistance monitoring. Tibotec and Virco were acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2002. Together with Dr Dinko Valerio, Rudi created in 1999 Galapagos Genomics, a joint venture between Tibotec and Crucell that is now listed on Euronext. Following a 3 year sabbatical at the EPFL, where he became more familiar with the advances in micro- & nanotechnologies, Rudi founded Biocartis, of which he is the current Chief Executive Officer to address new needs in the field of diagnostics. Rudi is (co-)author of more than 150 publications in peer reviewed journals. He received several awards for his scientific and entrepreneurial initiatives and serves on the Board of several companies and research Institutes.
