AlgoTx appoints Alain Eschalier and Axel Le Cesne to Scientific Advisory Board

lgoTx, a French Biotech developing ATX01 for the treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy, announced on February 11th 2019 the appointment of Axel Le Cesne to its Scientific Advisory Board, followed by the appointment of Alain Eschalier on May 19th 2019.

 

Axel Le Cesne

Axel Le Cesne is Associate Professor of Medicine. Head of Medical Oncology Hospital Unit at Gustave Roussy, France. He headed the Bone/Soft Tissue Sarcoma Unit from 1995 to 2016. Axel is a member of ASCO, ESMO, EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (STBSG). He served as Co-chair & Secretary of the French Sarcoma Group 2001-2005 and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society since 2010. Axel is a member of French Academy of Medicine.

 

Alain Eschalier

Alain Eschalier is a pharmacist, a Medical Doctor and a Pharmacologist. He is Professor of Medical Pharmacology and former President of the Université d’Auvergne. Alain created and led several research units within INSERM and chairs the Analgesia Institute.

AlgoTx’ Scientific Advisory Board is chaired by Céline Greco (MD Phd), Hosp. Practitioner, Pain and Palliative Medicine Care Unit at the Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades in Paris. Céline heads up the Reference Center for Mastocytosis and genetic disease with cutaneous expression. She is a laureate of the INSERM-Bettencourt school, and a Member of the Board  of the Council for Children Protection.

Axel Le Cesne and Alain Eschalier join the following Members of the Scientific Advisory Board :

Ronald Levy is Professor of Médecine, Stanford University Dpt of Oncology. He was awarded the Faisal International Prize, the Damashek Prize, the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s de Villiers Intl Achievement Award, the C. Chester Stock Award Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Jean-François Bergmann is Professor of Therapeutics at Paris VII University. He headed up the Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Dpt at Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris. He is the President of the Medicines Committee of the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). He served as expert with the Drug Approval Committee and the Transparency Committee of the French National Medicines Agency (ANSM), and expert with the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Ivan Krakowski is medical oncology and pain specialist. He heads up the Oncology Supportive Care at Institut Bergonié, and is the President of AFSOS (French speaking society of supportive care in oncology). Ivan is a Board Member of the National Cancer Committee and serves on the Council of EU Cancerology Training School. He is the Co-editor of « Oncologie » & « Douleur& Analgésie”.

Philippe Arnaud, PharmD, is a Hospital Practitioner and Dpt Head at Bichat – Claude Bernard Hosp. He is a Professor at Paris Descartes Pharmacy & Biological Sciences University, and Erasmus teacher in Italy, Portugal and Canda. Philippe is a Member French National Medicines Agency (ANSM).

AlgoTx is a French biotech start-up, hosted by the Paris Biotech Santé incubator developing ATX01, a treatment for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

AlgoTx appoints Jean-François Labbé, Hugues Le Bret and Fabrice Aurousseau to Board of Directors

In order to strengthen its strategic and operational ability, AlgoTx appointed a new Board of Directors consisting of Jean-François Labbé (Chairman), Hugues le Bret and Fabrice Aurousseau as well as Stéphane Thiroloix, Founder and CEO of AlgoTx.

Jean-François Labbé

Jean-François Labbé (MBA), founded SpePharm Holding BV and was its CEO from 2006 to 2012. He was previously CEO of OTL Pharma SA from 2001 to 2004, COO of ProStrakan UK from 2004 to 2005, and Pdt of Parke-Davis France/ Warner-Lambert (Pfizer Group) from 1999 to 2001. Jean-François began his career at Hoechst Roussel in 1974, held GM positions in Europe, South Africa and the US. In 1995, he was appointed President, Europe Middle East Africa and member of the ExCom of Hoechst Marion Roussel until its merger with Aventis in 1999. He is a Board member at NicoxSA and Deinove, and served on the Board of Transgene.

Hugues Le Bret.

Hugues Le Bret is the Founder & Pdt of the Supervisory Board of Compte-Nickel since 2012. He became Adviser to the CEO of BNP Paribas in 2017 when the latter acquired Compte-Nickel. From 1999 to 2009 he was the Pdt & CEO of Boursorama, after being Dir of communication & ExCom member at Société Générale. Hugues started as an economy journalist in 1987, then worked at  Publicis for 3 years. He founded ABW in 1993, a financial communication company sold to Havas in 1996, and was then CEO of financial communication activities at Havas until 1999.

Board of Directors
Fabrice Aurousseau

Fabrice Aurousseau (IEP / Sc.Po, Master in Public Law), is the Co-Founder of the M&A Advisory firm Eponyme Partners, and the CEO & Co-founder of the R&D consulting firm PPRS Research. He served previously in activities of Corporate Finance at Compagnie Financière E. de Rothschild and BNP Paribas.

Stéphane Thiroloix

Stéphane Thiroloix (HEC) is the Founder, President & CEO of AlgoTx. Stephane is the Chairman of the Board at Jellagen Marine Biotechnologies, and strategic advisor to Hoalen and Ythera. Prior to founding AlgoTx, Stephane served as CEO of Mayoly-Spindler (2014-2018), EVP Europe at Smith&Nephew (2012-2014), EVP Corporate Dvt at Ipsen (2007-2012), VP Europe & GM France at Bristol-Myers Squibb (2002-2007), VP Europe Business Dvt at GSK (1998-2002). Stephane started his career at Roussel Uclaf (HMR / Sanofi) and occupied central and affiliate leadership positions between 1987 and 1998.

AlgoTx is a French biotech start-up, hosted by the Paris Biotech Santé incubator developing ATX01, a treatment for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

AlgoTherapeutix SAS

49 rue des Nouvelles – 92150 Suresnes

Contact- contact@algotx.com

Communication : Geneviève Cliquet Consultant – T: +33(0) 607 500 567

 

AlgoTx raises 2.6M€ towards pre-clinical development of ATX01

One-year old AlgoTx announced it completed a 2.6M€ in Seed Capital. The French biotech start-up, hosted by the Paris Biotech Santé incubator is developing ATX01, a treatment for neuropathic pain caused by chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN)

Over half of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy develop CIPN and experience sensory symptoms and pain in the hands and feet1: loss of sensitivity, tingling, cold and intense pain2 can persist for months to years after treatment3,4. CIPN can prevent patients from walking or using their hands, thus deeply affecting their quality of life.

CIPN is found in over two million patients each year in the US and Europe5,6, representing the first cause for modification or interruption of chemotherapy. To this date, no therapeutic approach has offered a satisfactory response for patients and their caregivers, oncologists and pain specialists.

Promising exploratory data.

Inspired by clinical experience at a specialized pain treatment center, Algotx’s ATX01 targets topical treatment of CIPN by repositioning amitriptyline into a suitable formulation.

Early observations with the precursor of ATX01, published in January 2019 in Supportive Care in Cancer7 were the starting point of our development.

The completed Seeding Round enables AlgoTx to initiate the pre-clinical development of ATX01.

Strong human and entrepreneurial dynamics.

AlgoTx was founded in April 2018 by Stéphane Thiroloix and Olivier Bohuon, both seasoned professionals of the pharmaceutical world, where they developed solid strategic, operational, scientific and financial expertise in the companies they contributed to lead. Beyond ATX01, AlgoTx foresees the development of a portfolio of additional treatments for complex pain.

A strong operational team is gathered to execute the project, supported by a high-level Scientific Advisory Board and experienced Board of Directors.

After operating for a year in financial autonomy, in part thanks to support from BPIFrance, this Seed funding round enables Algotx to boost its activity. “Working on such a clinically relevant indication is a privilege and I am delighted with this strengthened financial support towards the development of ATX01, so it can become a reference treatment for chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain”,Stephane Thiroloix, co-founder and President of AlgoTx comments.

Strong with an IP portfolio and solid pre-clinical data, ATX01’s next funding round will take place in early 2020, to fund clinical development.

References:

  1. Kerckhove N, Collin A, Condé S,Chaleteix C, Pezet D and Balayssac D (2017) Long-Term Effects, Pathophysiological Mechanisms, and Risk Factors of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathies: A Comprehensive Literature Review. Front. Pharmacol. 8:86.
  2. Kerckhove N, et al. Neuropathies périphériques chimio-induites : symptomatologie et épidémiologie. Bull Cancer (2018)
  3. Park, Susanna B., David Goldstein, Arun V. Krishnan, Cindy S-Y Lin, Michael L. Friedlander, James Cassidy, Martin Koltzenburg, et Matthew C. Kiernan. « Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity: A Critical Analysis ». CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians63, no6 (novembre 2013): 419‑37. 
  4. Argyriou, Andreas, Athanasios Kyritsis, Thomas Makatsoris, et Haralabos Kalofonos. « Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Adults: A Comprehensive Update of the Literature ». Cancer Management and Research, mars 2014, 135. 
  5. American Cancer Society. « Cancer Treatment & Survivorship Facts & Figures 2016-2017 », 2016.
  6. « Global Cancer Observatory ». 
  7. Rossignol, Julien, Benoit Cozzi, François Liebaert, Séverine Hatton, Marcel-Louis Viallard, Olivier Hermine, et Céline Greco. « High Concentration of Topical Amitriptyline for Treating Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathies ». Supportive Care in Cancer, 4 janvier 2019.