Collaborations

hEN1 - Sclérose Latérale Amyotrophique

 

L’administration par voie intrathécale de la protéine recombinante hEN1 devrait stopper la progression de la maladie grâce à son activité protectrice et réparatrice des motoneurones alpha, ceux-là même qui dégénèrent et meurent dans la maladie. Des évidences précliniques ont été obtenues sur des motoneurones humains dérivés de patients atteints de SLA - cellules souches pluripotentes induites – ainsi que dans des modèles pharmacologiques murins. Ce projet est en phase préclinique avancée.

hOTX2 pour le glaucome

 

Il a été démontré qu’OTX2 est un facteur de maintenance et de survie pour les cellules ganglionnaires de la rétine, cellules qui dégénèrent dans le glaucome et qui sont responsables de la perte de vision. Une preuve de concept préliminaire a été établie dans des modèles précliniques.

 

hOTX2 - Dégénérescence maculaire liée à l'âge (DMLA)

 

L’homéoprotéine OTX2 est essentielle pour la différenciation des photorécepteurs, des cellules bipolaires et de l'épithélium pigmentaire rétinien au cours du développement. Chez l'adulte, OTX2 reste exprimé dans l'épithélium pigmentaire rétinien et dans les photorécepteurs à cônes et à bâtonnets, cellules qui dégénèrent dans la DMLA. Suivant le même principe que hEN1 pour le traitement de la SLA et de la maladie de Parkinson, OTX2 pourrait protéger et restaurer ces cellules, constituant une nouvelle approche thérapeutique de la DMLA. Ce projet est au stade de la recherche.

 

hEN1 - Maladie de Parkinson

 

L'administration intracérébrale de hEN1 dans la Substance Noire via un vecteur de thérapie génique pourrait constituer un traitement de fond de la maladie de Parkinson. Elle devrait stopper la progression de la maladie et améliorer les fonctions motrices en protégeant et en rajeunissant les neurones dopaminergiques du mésencéphale qui dégénèrent chez ces patients, comme cela a pu être démontré dans divers modèles animaux de Parkinson avec la protéine hEN1. Ce projet est en fin de phase de recherche, avec la sélection du vecteur viral assurant une expression locale intracérébrale durable.

 

Dr. Michael Shelanski is a cell biologist and neuropathologist. He received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago and trained in Neuropathology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Subsequently he worked in the laboratories of Nobel Laureate Marshall Nirenberg at the NIH and Jean-Pierre Changeux at the Institute Pasteur. He was Associate Professor of Neuropathology at Harvard prior to assuming the Chair of Pharmacology at NYU in 1978. In 1987 he moved to Columbia as the Delafield Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology. Together with Dr. Richard Mayeux he founded the NIH sponsored Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia and served as its Director for almost 25 years. He is a member of numerous advisory and editorial boards and a member of the National Academy of Medicine and of the Association of American Physicians. Dr Shelanski has served as a member of Study Sections at the NIH, the Alzheimer’s Association, the ALS Association, and the Dystonia Association. He is the Past- President of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institut du Cerveau (Paris Brain Institute) in France.

Leonard Van den Berg, Professor of neurology and holding a chair in experimental neurology of motor neuron diseases at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. He is also director of the Laboratory for Neuromuscular Disease, director of the Netherlands ALS Center and chairman of the European Network to Cure ALS (ENCALS), a network of the European ALS Centers dedicated to clinical trials. A major emphasis of his research has been in ALS and other motor neuron disorders, and he has been a principal investigator on numerous drug trials in that field.

Takao Hensch, now Professor at Harvard University (USA) and University of Tokyo (JP), is one of the main academic players in the field of cerebral cortex plasticity. He has reported in a seminal paper (Science 1998) that a local GABA circuit controls experience-dependent plasticity in the developing visual system. It is in this context that he started to collaborate with Prof. Prochiantz leading to the discovery that the OTX2 homeoprotein internalized by a subpopulation of inhibitory interneuron is necessary and sufficient to open plasticity at P20 in the visual cerebral cortex and close it at P40. This study published in Cell in 2008 has opened new avenues for our understanding of how plasticity in the cerebral cortex is regulated and can be manipulated, not only in the visual system, but throughout the cortex, including regions that control mood and cognition. His work has been cited more than 20,000 times with H-index of 59 (Google scholar). He was awarded the 2016 Mortimer D. Sackler M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievements in Developmental Psychobiology. “How Early Life Experience Shapes Brain Functions”.

Stéphane Palfi, Professor of Neurosurgery and Head of the Neurosurgery Department at Henri Mondor Medical center, Paris University (UPEC). His focus is on the development of surgical therapies for PD, Huntington disease, Tremor, Dystonia, and Psychiatric disorders. He has worked extensively around electrical neuromodulation of the brain in movement disorders, gene therapy for PD, cell grafting for Huntington and PD, as well as primate models of neurodegenerative disorders. He is a principal investigator on numerous preclinical and clinical studies and has been involved in studies of many novel agents including implanted brain devices, trophic factors GDNF, CNTF and lentiviral vectors Prosavin.

Before joining Turenne Capital in 2014, Bervin Bouani spent six years as an Asset Manager within the investment department at SHAM, an insurer specialized in healthcare companies’ risks. At SHAM, Bervin was in charge of risky assets (listed equities, Hedge Funds and private equity) and in particular was involved in the development of the private equity business (€ 30 million invested in 15 companies, including Adocia).
Bernard Gilly, PhD graduated from the Institut National Agronomique and a PhD from Université de Rennes (France), INSEAD.Bervin began his career as a junior financial engineer at CM-CIC. Bervin holds a Master’s degree in Markets and Corporate Finance from UniversitéCatholique de Lille. Bervin is responsible for the Brainever, Cytoo, and Orega Biotech holdings.

Benoit Barteau is Principal in the Life Sciences Department of BpifranceInvestissement. Since 2014, he has been involved in a dozen investment deals and current board member positions include Dynacure, Alentis and Igyxos. Prior, he gained experience in various biotech roles, co-discovered a vaccine candidate, developed an antibody production service.
He holds an MSc in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), a PhD in immunology and an executive Master in Finance.

From 2005 to 2015, Alexia was Partner and Head of Healthcare at Omnes Capital. She co-headed the management of the 26 innovative funds in venture capital.
Bernard Gilly, PhD graduated from the Institut National Agronomique and a PhD from Université de Rennes (France), INSEAD.
Alexia joined the venture capital space in 1999 as an investment manager at Sofinnova Partners, where she was involved in the selection and creation of several successful investments. Alexa holds an MAE from IAE and an MSc in Neurosciences from University of Life Sciences-Inserm, Lyon.

Anne Bousseau has an extensive experience in drug development. During her 25+ years in the Sanofi-Aventis group, Anne Bousseau has held multiple senior positions all along the drug value chain, from leading a discovery group in the early days of HIV research to developing and registering oncology molecules such as cabazitaxel/ Jevtana in advanced metastatic prostate cancer. Anne Bousseau has led the Sanofi Oncology Project Direction group, in charge of the development strategy of more than 30 molecules, small molecules and biologics, starting at the preclinical stage up to registration, internally or through collaborations and alliances. During these years, a strong focus was made on translational research and the transition from Research to Development. Before that, she held different positions in the Research organization, such as AIDS Therapeutic Area leader, including target validation, lead optimization and preclinical characterization of candidates.
Anne Bousseau received her medical degree from the Paris School of Medicine. She also prepared a PhD in Immunology in Paris at the Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS).

Hubert Méchain has a 20+ years’ experience of Biopharmaceutical development of innovative drug candidates. After a first experience as engineer for Sanofi-Synthelabo, he joined the GMP manufacturing site of Transgène (Mérieux group) specializing in immunotherapy and viral vectors. Hubert Méchain spent almost 10 years leading this site, in charge of the manufacturing of several hundreds of gene therapy clinical batches, for phase 1 to phase 3 studies, with international partners like Roche or Sanofi. He then started a consulting activity in 2015 and, took charge of the transition management of Theravectys technical operations in 2016, before joining BrainEver in 2017 to oversee the manufacturing activities.
Hubertholds a biological and applied microbiology engineering degree from the Polytech Marseille Engineering University as well as an executive Master of Business Administration from EM Strasbourg Business School.

Claire Friedel has a 17+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with various operational responsibilities in Medical Affairs for CNS drugs, focusing on the fields of Epilepsy and Parkinson Disease (Janssen-Cilag, UCB Pharma). From clinical development to new drugs launches, Claire had the opportunity to lead a wide variety of projects (clinical trials, pregnancy registry, named patient programs, web education platform & patients mobile app…). Beside drug development, she acted as Medical Education team manager in UCB China to work on the problematic of patients and physician’s education and its impact on treatment efficiency. She joined BrainEver in  2017, to lead the development projects.
Claire has been trained at UPMC Paris VI and holds a MSc degree in Neurobiology and neuropsychology of human behavior as well as an executive MBA from ESCP Business School.