Nantes, France, October 4, 2021 -- InFlectis BioScience SAS, a clinical-stage company developing innovative therapeutics for neuromuscular diseases by harnessing the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), expands its leadership team with three appointments. Mark Pykett, who brings more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, joins as Chairman of the Board; Beatrice Lejeune, industrial pharmacist that played a key role in receiving market authorization for five drugs, was named to the newly-created role of Chief Regulatory Officer and joins the Executive Committee; and Prof. Brian Popko, an expert in the fields of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases, joins the Scientific Advisory Board.
“Our growing team will play critical roles in building our organization as we advance our lead clinical-stage candidate for rare neuromuscular diseases through clinical development in patients and bringing a promising preclinical candidate for Multiple Sclerosis toward the clinic,” said Philippe Guédat, President and CEO of InFlectis BioScience.
“InFlectis has a promising pipeline of small molecules to treat rare neuromuscular diseases that uniquely exploit the ISR pathway to potentially delay or halt disease progression,” said Dr. Pykett. “The pharmaceutical industry is increasing its investment in new therapies that target diseases of central and peripheral nervous system. InFlectis is at the forefront of this field with mid-stage clinical programs and an efficient and defined path to market for ALS and CMT, rare diseases that currently have very limited treatment options.”
Dr. Pykett is Chief Executive Officer of Myrtelle, Inc., a private biotechnology company. He has over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry executive management experience. Prior to Myrtelle, Dr. Pykett was Chief Scientific Officer at PTC Therapeutics, after the acquisition of Agilis Biotherapeutics for up to $945 million, plus royalties, in 2018. He was also CEO of Agilis Biotherapeutics, CEO of Navidea Pharmaceuticals, President and Chief Operating Officer of Alseres Pharmaceuticals, President of CyGenics and CEO of Cytomatrix. He has also been a board member of both public and private organizations, including the biotech companies Pharming Group and Exubrion Therapeutics and the not-for-profit organization HealthBuilders developing healthcare infrastructure in Rwanda. Dr. Pykett holds a BA from Amherst College, a VMD and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Northeastern University. He also completed post-doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
Béatrice Lejeune most recently led regulatory affairs at Labo’Life, during which time five marketing authorizations were granted to the company. Her 17 years at Labo’Life, fostered an expertise in the full life cycle of drug development, from early discovery to commercialization. Ms. Lejeune graduated from the University of Louvain Pharmacy School in Belgium and worked as a research associate in pharmacogenomics at the University of Florida.
Prof. Brian Popko is the William Frederick Windle Chair of Neurology and the Scientific Director of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Charcot Marie Tooth Association, and of the NIH Cellular and Molecular Biology of Glia Study section. Prof. Popko has over 30 years of experience in the academic field. He obtained his PhD from the University of Miami School of Medicine he conducted his postdoc at Caltech studying myelinating glial cells development. Prof. Popko has dedicated his academic career to the study of CNS disorders, focusing on the disruption and deterioration of the myelin sheath, a critical component of the nervous system that leads to neurological disorders once compromised.
About InFlectis
InFlectis BioScience is a France-based clinical stage company developing first-in-class therapies for neuromuscular diseases. The company is in clinical development with an orally available small molecule — IFB-088 — that has the potential to extend lives or improve the quality-of-life for people with from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) — two rare progressive nerve conditions. InFlectis designs therapies to boost a cellular command center — the Integrated Stress Response — that ensures healthy levels of proteins and protein structures. Excessive and prolonged cellular stress can overwhelm this command center, resulting in the loss of functional cells and onset or progression of neuromuscular diseases. InFlectis’ drug candidates keep this command center operating to prevent downstream effects that lead to disease.
