Coave Therapeutics (Coave), a clinical-stage biotechnology company backed by international life science and strategic investors Seroba Life Sciences, Théa Open Innovation, eureKARE, Fund+, Omnes Capital, V-Bio Ventures, Kurma Partners, Idinvest, GO Capital, Sham Innovation Santé/Turenne, has strengthened its leadership team with the appointments of Thomas Blaettler MD, as Chief Medical Officer, and Patricia Françon PhD, to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer.
“I am very pleased to welcome Thomas and Patricia to the leadership team at Coave. Their collective accomplishments and deep domain expertise in neuroscience, cell and gene therapy, in addition to their extensive clinical drug development and project management experience will be invaluable as we progress our lead candidate through clinical development and advance our pipeline of novel gene therapies into clinical development targeting rare Ocular and CNS diseases,” says Rodolphe Clerval, CEO.
Dr Blaettler is an expert in the neuroscience therapy area, having over 25 years’ experience in the field, both in clinical residency and industry. Thomas joins Coave from Orphazyme A/S where, since 2016, he served as Chief Medical Officer and was responsible for devising the clinical development strategy and progressing the company’s rare neurodegenerative pipeline. In addition to championing the clinical and regulatory strategy, Thomas has contributed to Orphazyme’s IPO on both the Copenhagen and Nasdaq stock exchanges. Prior to Orphazyme, Thomas held global leadership roles within the clinical neuroscience divisions at both Roche and Bristol Myers Squibb, with a further neuroscience translational medicine role at Novartis.
“I am delighted to be joining Coave at such an exciting stage of development,” says Blaettler. “I look forward to progressing CTx-PDE6b through the clinic, and to contributing to the advancement of the company’s pipeline of next-generation gene therapies, which have the potential to deliver life changing outcomes for rare disease patients.”
Dr Françon is an experienced biotech professional with over 20 years’ experience leading global CMC and regulatory strategies for the accelerated development of innovative biologics, advanced cell & gene therapies. Patricia joins Coave from Skinosive where she served as Chief Operating/Technology Officer, managing operational aspects of the business, proactively driving the company towards achieving its development goals. Françcn has also held various clinical development roles at Sartorius, Neuro-Sys, Enterome, Evry, Cellectis, Anaconda Pharma and Sanofi, managing all aspects of product development, coordinating multiple studies, selecting partners and managing regulatory processes.
“Coave’s ALIGATER technology is truly innovative and demonstrates an important ability to provide gene therapies with increased tissue targeting and transduction, designed to enhance their potency and efficacy,” adds Françon. “I look forward to working with Rodolphe and the team to drive the company forward on its mission of improving the effectiveness of advanced gene therapies for rare diseases.”
