InBrain Pharma Announces the Appointment of Dr Véronique Foutel as CEO

• With over 30 years’ experience, Dr. Véronique Foutel has played a key role in bringing to market several significant medical advances such as the first monoclonal antibodies in oncology (MABTHERA, HERCEPTIN) opening the era of precision medicine and having had a drastic impact on the patient life prognosis and care organization. She has also contributed to the pharma industry’s relentless quest for new treatments against inflammatory, neuro-inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

• InBrain Pharma is a French biotech pioneering pharmacological neuromodulation by a personalized delivery of dopamine – the deficient neurotransmitter – into the brain of advanced Parkinson’s disease patients,

• The preliminary results of the DIVE-I phase I/IIb clinical trial were warmly welcomed by the scientific community, both at the 2022 Movement Disorders Congress and the 2023 World Parkinson Congress.

• With the final study result availability, Dr. Véronique Foutel’s first undertakings are to ensure that all study patients will continue to receive their treatment, and that the Phase III study plan will be endorsed by EMA.

LILLE, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–InBrain Pharma, a biotech specialized in brain infusion of drugs for neurological disorder management, today announced the appointment of Dr. Véronique Foutel as CEO to drive the next company’s development steps. Dr. Matthieu Fisichella, co-founder, and current CEO since 2018, will remain highly committed to InBrain Pharma and become Chief Science Officer.

“I’m excited to join the InBrain Pharma Team given the benefit brought to patients stressing how much this new therapeutic option will be a game changer for advanced stage Parkinson’s patients refractory to L-Dopa and/ or dopaminergic agonist-based therapies. With this individualized titration of dopamine into the brain, the precision medicine concept is now a reality in neurology. ,” says Véronique Foutel, CEO of InBrain Pharma.

“I am delighted to hand over the reins to Véronique, whose appointment comes at a critical time for InBrain Pharma. Her expertise in the pharma sector will be invaluable while we move to Phase III. From now on, I will be focusing on our earlier stage projects to make them progress to clinic “, explains Matthieu Fisichella, Co-Founder and CSO of InBrain Pharma.

“ We are very pleased to welcome Véronique to InBrain Pharma, who will strengthen the company’s growth and would like to thank Matthieu for his endeavor, who was instrumental in helping us establish the proof of concept of neurological disorder correction by brain infusion of a therapeutic agent” conclude the two co-founders of the company, Professor David Devos, CHU de Lille, Université de Lille, Neuroscience & Cognition INSERM and Professor Caroline MOREAU, CHU de Lille, Université de Lille, Lille Neuroscience & Cognition Inserm.

Parkinson’s disease, second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world

Parkinson’s disease is the world’s fastest-growing neurological disorder, prevalence having doubled over the last 25 years. 2.6 million people¹ are affected in the top 5 EU markets², the United States and Japan, half of them being in advanced stage. The disease is caused by a progressive dopaminergic neuron loss, triggering a dopamine deficit, and leading to major painful motor disability, coupled to cognitive-behavioral and psychiatric disorders. Today therapeutic options in advanced stage rely on few device-aided therapies, useful for less than 50% of patients, given either their limited efficacy or their invasiveness or both. The brain infusion of dopamine is a disruptive treatment modality contributing to address this unmet need.

Véronique Foutel’s biography

Véronique Foutel holding a Pharmaceutical Science Doctorate from Paris University is a former Paris Hospital resident. She displays over thirty years of experience in drug asset value assessment, development, and market delivery. This experience has been gained from 1991 with positions in France in the Hospitals, with the Transparency Committee and at the General Health Directorate, then from 1996 in the Pharmaceutical Industry mainly within the Pharmaceutical Division of the F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG in its French and Canadian affiliates, and at the Headquarters in Switzerland, where she became Global Strategic Pricing Head for the new drugs. From 2004 to 2009, Véronique had been involved in all the pharma/biotech partnering opportunities of the Swiss giant.

Back to France, Véronique joined the leadership Team of DBV Technologies before setting up her own consultancy, Value Vision Consulting, offering strategic market access & pricing advice to pharma as well as EU and US biotechs. Her passion for innovation and her know-how in preparing it for successful launches led her to join InBrain Pharma to take up the company’s challenges.

About InBrain Pharma

InBrain Pharma, a CNS disorders focused biotech, founded in 2018, exploiting through an exclusive worldwide patent license signed with the Northern France TTO, a groundbreaking therapeutic approach of advanced Parkinson’s Disease based on the research work of Pr David DEVOS and Pr Caroline MOREAU developed within their academic research Team from the Université de Lille, Lille Neuroscience & cognition UMR-S 1172 INSERM and the Lille University Hospital. To date, the company has raised €4.4 million in dilutive and non-dilutive financing, these funds having enabled to carry out a first phase I/IIb DIVE-I clinical trial on 12 patients, for which results have just been obtained.

_________________________________

¹ GlobalData’s figures

² France, Spain, United-Kingdom, Germany and Italy

Contacts

Press contact : Florence Portejoie, FP2COM, + 33 6 07 76 82 83, fportejoie@fp2com.fr