Dijon, France, August 18, 2009 - Oncodesign Biotechnology, a specialist in the identification of novel cancer therapies, announced today the appointment of Jan Hoflack as Vice President Drug Discovery. Dr Hoflack will be responsible for establishing and directing integrated drug discovery activities at Oncodesign. Building on its successful business in high quality services in the area of preclinical and translational evaluation of anti-cancer therapies, Oncodesign is expanding its activities to offer integrated drug and biomarker discovery services. These will be based on the company's existing platforms and a new discovery infrastructure.
"Jan's proven leadership in drug discovery research, his extensive experience in building and leading centers of excellence and his strong connections in both large pharmaceutical companies and biotechs uniquely position him to lead this next phase of our corporate development," said Philippe Genne, President and CEO of Oncodesign. "We are really pleased that he has joined our executive leadership team bringing us its expertise in chemistry and drug discovery."
Before joining Oncodesign, Dr Hoflack, 49, was Vice-President Medicinal Chemistry and Biosciences at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D in Beerse, Belgium. Prior to this assignment, he held senior management positions at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg (Sweden), at Novartis in Basel (Switzerland), and at Marion Merrell Dow in Strasbourg (France). Dr Hoflack holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the State University of Ghent in Belgium.
"I am looking forward to leading Oncodesign's efforts in integrated drug discovery," said Dr Hoflack. "The current challenges in pharmaceutical R&D create numerous new opportunities. There is a growing interest in the industry towards building early alliances with innovative biotechnology companies that have the capabilities and experience to generate differentiated drugs. Oncodesign has already proven that its experimental pharmacological and translational platforms in oncology are essential components of the successful research towards of novel cancer treatments. It is an exciting challenge to build upon these biology platforms to generate disease-modifying drugs that will make a difference for patients."
About Oncodesign Biotechnology SA
Oncodesign Biotechnology's prime goal since its conception has been the identification of novel anticancer therapies. The company has developed an innovative preclinical research platform dedicated to establishing the in vitro and in vivo proof of concept of potential therapeutic agents. Its pharmacology based "Qualifying Approach", aimed at the rapid evaluation of the therapeutic potential of novel molecules, and the translational perspective of Oncodesign create a continuum from drug target to patient.
In addition to its service offering, Oncodesign has significantly invested in its own technological R&D programs to increase its innovation base. Currently, Oncodesign has taken the lead in two important national initiatives, CReMEC (Medicen, Paris), which aims at the creation of a French resource centre for experimental oncology models based on primary tumor material, and PharmImage, a centre of excellence in pharmaco-imaging (Dijon, France). Starting from these research platforms, Oncodesign has continued to develop its business scope over the past year and is now offering capabilities and experience for the discovery of novel therapeutic and diagnostic agents through an integrated stand-alone approach. Founded in 1995, by Dr Philippe Genne, Oncodesign Biotechnology is based in Dijon, France. It employs 60 people including 12 PhDs and has a worldwide client-base of over 400 large and small companies.
For more information on Oncodesign Biotechnology's R&D platform and its services: www.oncodesign.com.
"Jan's proven leadership in drug discovery research, his extensive experience in building and leading centers of excellence and his strong connections in both large pharmaceutical companies and biotechs uniquely position him to lead this next phase of our corporate development," said Philippe Genne, President and CEO of Oncodesign. "We are really pleased that he has joined our executive leadership team bringing us its expertise in chemistry and drug discovery."
Before joining Oncodesign, Dr Hoflack, 49, was Vice-President Medicinal Chemistry and Biosciences at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D in Beerse, Belgium. Prior to this assignment, he held senior management positions at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg (Sweden), at Novartis in Basel (Switzerland), and at Marion Merrell Dow in Strasbourg (France). Dr Hoflack holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the State University of Ghent in Belgium.
"I am looking forward to leading Oncodesign's efforts in integrated drug discovery," said Dr Hoflack. "The current challenges in pharmaceutical R&D create numerous new opportunities. There is a growing interest in the industry towards building early alliances with innovative biotechnology companies that have the capabilities and experience to generate differentiated drugs. Oncodesign has already proven that its experimental pharmacological and translational platforms in oncology are essential components of the successful research towards of novel cancer treatments. It is an exciting challenge to build upon these biology platforms to generate disease-modifying drugs that will make a difference for patients."
About Oncodesign Biotechnology SA
Oncodesign Biotechnology's prime goal since its conception has been the identification of novel anticancer therapies. The company has developed an innovative preclinical research platform dedicated to establishing the in vitro and in vivo proof of concept of potential therapeutic agents. Its pharmacology based "Qualifying Approach", aimed at the rapid evaluation of the therapeutic potential of novel molecules, and the translational perspective of Oncodesign create a continuum from drug target to patient.
In addition to its service offering, Oncodesign has significantly invested in its own technological R&D programs to increase its innovation base. Currently, Oncodesign has taken the lead in two important national initiatives, CReMEC (Medicen, Paris), which aims at the creation of a French resource centre for experimental oncology models based on primary tumor material, and PharmImage, a centre of excellence in pharmaco-imaging (Dijon, France). Starting from these research platforms, Oncodesign has continued to develop its business scope over the past year and is now offering capabilities and experience for the discovery of novel therapeutic and diagnostic agents through an integrated stand-alone approach. Founded in 1995, by Dr Philippe Genne, Oncodesign Biotechnology is based in Dijon, France. It employs 60 people including 12 PhDs and has a worldwide client-base of over 400 large and small companies.
For more information on Oncodesign Biotechnology's R&D platform and its services: www.oncodesign.com.
