Management - Oncodesign Precision Medicine

The Executive Board, made up of the 3 co-founders, has been working together since 2008.

Philippe Genne

Chief Executive Officer – In

After gaining a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Dijon in 1992, Philippe Genne began his scientific career as a project leader at Debiopharm where he oversaw a clinical development program related to multi-drug resistance inhibitors. From 1992 to 1998, he also conducted preclinical development and phase I and phase II clinical trials in conjunction with Inserm. In 1995, he founded Oncodesign Biotechnology in Dijon. From that point, he has earned a reputation as a serial entrepreneur in life sciences.

He is the root to the creation and development of Oncodesign, listed on Euronext Growth from 1995 to 2022 (45 millions € revenues in 2022), and its restructuration in 2 seperate companies Oncodesign Services (ODS) and OPM. Philippe Genne is well known for his activities right across the life sciences value chain. In 2012, he helped set up the French association of life sciences service and innovation companies (AFSSI). Since 2018, he is the Vice-President of the SMEs College at Medicen.

Karine Lignel

Chief Operating Officer – In

Karine Lignel is an Agro-Food Engineer (ENSIA). She holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Management (IGIA). She started her careers in the food industry where she held technical and management positions. In 2000, Karine Lignel switched to Venture Capital, which allowed her to continue to use her scientific knowledge while sharpening her analytical, financial and, above all, coaching skills. Karine Lignel has accompanied more than sixty technology companies, mostly in the health industry, and has been a member of more than thirty boards (of mdirectors or supervisory boards). In particular, she assisted the IPO of Nanobiotix, Oncodesign and Medincell.

Since 2008, Karine Lignel has been accompanying Oncodesign as a representative of “Crédit Mutuel Innovation”.

Jan Hoflack

Chief Scientific Officer – In

Jan Hoflack obtained a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Ghent in Belgium before gaining solid experience and taking on executive positions at Marion Merrell Dow in Strasbourg (France), Novartis in Basel (Switzerland), and AstraZeneca in Gothenburg (Sweden). He was then appointed Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry and Biosciences at Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D (Janssen) in Beerse (Belgium). He joined Oncodesign in 2009 as an Associate Executive Director and was tasked with setting up and developing the Drug Discovery business unit. Drawing on his over 30 years of R&D experience, including 22 years in the pharmaceutical sector, Jan also devised the Nanocyclix® chemistry technology that has provided access to next-generation kinase inhibitors.

Executive Committee

Thierry Billoué

Chief Human Resources Officer – In

With over 20 years’ professional experience to his name, Thierry Billoué has worked in a variety of business sectors, including automotive, consumer electronics, IT services and IT security. He has supported mid-sized businesses (60 – 750 employees, revenue of €10 million-€150 million) pursuing a strategy of far-reaching transformation (exponential growth, business creation, turnaround phase, etc.). He believes that “all organizations, and all employees, are capable of transforming themselves and embracing change provided that they understand the reasons behind it, so that they strive for and effect this change themselves.”

Arnaud Lafforgue

Chief Financial and Administrative Officer – In

Arnaud Lafforgue has close to 20 years’ experience in consulting and management roles in both financial and operational functions. During his past nine years with Grant Thornton, his duties have included being Head of Transaction Services responsible for the Operational Deal Services offering. Arnaud Lafforgue graduated from the EM-Lyon business school and holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Paris X. His career began as an organizational consultant with Arthur Andersen, and he then joined Kroll Talbot Hughes, a specialist in operational and financial corporate restructuring.

Bruno Robin

Clinical Development Director – In

Bruno Robin is pharmacist by training, former resident of the Paris Hospitals, specialized in pharmacology. He started his career at the Servier Laboratories as non-clinical project manager for toxicology and pharmacology studies on a treatment against osteoporosis. Then, he was clinical project manager for a product in the secondary prevention of stroke. He then joined Stallergenes and coordinated the clinical development program of a recombinant allergen immunotherapy against birch pollen allergy, then in the Medical Affairs department, he was in charge of all post-marketing studies, before becoming International Scientific Director. Then, within DBV Technologies, he oversaw the whole clinical development program of an allergen immunotherapy treatment against peanut. During his career, Bruno has gained a strong experience in clinical development and in the constitution of market authorization dossier. With 20 years of experience in drug development, he joined OPM in May 2023 as Director of Clinical Development.

Stéphane Gerart

Deputy CSO – Operations – In

Stéphane Gerart is an engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique and the INA-PG and holds a PhD in immunology from Paris Descartes University. He begins his career as a business development consultant within the Consulting Firm Novoptim, a partner of choice in the strategic, marketing and operational support of fast-growing health life sciences companies on the European market. He then joins SOPHiA GENETICS in Canada. His mission as the country business development manager of this pioneer company in its field allowed him to acquire expertise in artificial intelligence and related applications. Back in France, as head of corporate business development for SOPHiA GENETICS, he is exposed to the booming ecosystem of new technologies in the healthcare world. He joins Oncodesign in 2020 to be responsible of the Artificial Intelligence Business Unit.

Maria Eugenia Riveiro

Deputy CSO – In

Maria Eugenia Riveiro, PhD in Pharmacology and Oncology from the University of Buenos Aires, possesses extensive experience in the field of anticancer drug development. Since 2010, she has worked within various CROs and biotechs, primarily focusing on the early development of new anticancer treatments, from preclinical stages to Phase I studies. She has also been involved in the creation of several innovative biotechs in Europe and participated as the head of the regulatory working group of the COST-17140 Action of the European Commission, to develop and strengthen industry-academia relations with a goal: fostering the clinical translation of nanomedicine from bench to bedside. She led the implementation of preclinical and IND study strategies for 20 oncology programs, including small molecules and biological products. This included the development of four “first-in-man” drugs, mainly epigenetic drugs and innovative immunotherapies that are currently being evaluated in Phase I/II clinical studies for solid tumors and hematological malignancies. After 15 years of experience in drug development, she joined OPM in December 2022 to take the lead in the preclinical and non-clinical development of OPM’s innovative programs.

Management guarantees an efficient organization

Executive Management