Paris, February 19th, 2010 – Deinove, a biotech company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative processes for biofuel production, today announced the appointment of Paul-Joël Derian (Vice- President R&D and Executive Committee Board member at Rhodia) to the company’s Board of Directors. “We are delighted to welcome Paul-Joël Derian to Deinove’s Board. His outstanding experience within the chemicals industry (our company’s second priority market after biofuels), high-level contacts and strategic, global vision will help Deinove achieve its next key development milestones”, emphasized Deinove CEO Jacques Biton.
Paul-Joël Derian has solid experience of the chemicals industry in France and internationally - notably through a series of senior management positions at Rhodia since 1997. He was appointed as Group Vice- President Research & Development in 2003 and joined the group’s Executive Committee in 2005. In 2002 and 2003, he served as Vice-President Rhodia Food and Global Market Director, Dairy, Desserts, Beverages & Healthcare. Between 2000 and 2002, he served as Vice President R&D/Strategy in the Consumer Specialties Division. In 1997, he created and then managed the multidisciplinary, 120- researcher Cranbury Research and Technologies Center in the USA. From 1995 to 1997, he founded and headed the joint Rhodia/CNRS/Princeton University Complex Fluids Lab. Prior to joining the Rhodia group, Paul-Joël Derian worked as a researcher for the French Atomic Energy Commission and the French Army’s Weaponry Technical Centre. Paul-Joël Derian holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Paris VI and is an alumnus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure engineering school.
The biofuels market
Biofuels constitute a major political issue at the national, European and international levels. The challenge is to secure energy supplies via diversification and greater energy independence and to reduce the impact environmental of energy use (particularly in terms of the carbon balance).
The worldwide production of bioethanol (the main biofuel) rose from 18 billion litres per year in 2000 to 74 billion litres per year in 2009. Together, Brazil and the USA account for over 90% of this volume. The USA multiplied its production by a factor of 5.5 between 2000 and 2008 and is now the world’s largest producer1. In 2009, European bioethanol production accounted for less than 5% of the world total2. The European Union’s total biofuel consumption was barely 1% of its overall petrol & diesel fuel consumption (versus 2% globally). On January 23rd, 2008, the European Commission issued a draft directive (Directive 2009/28) on accelerating the transition to use of renewable energies, with biofuel target of 10% by 2020. The Directive also include additional measures aimed notably at increasing the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of switching from fossil fuels to biofuels to 35% and then to 50% and 60% [Directive 2009/28].
About Deinove
The Paris-based biotech company Deinove was incorporated in late 2006 under the joint impetus of Philippe Pouletty MD (Managing Partner at the private equity firm Truffle Capital) and Miroslav Radman PhD (Professor of Cell Biology at Paris-Descartes University, a member of the French Academy of Science and winner of the 2003 INSERM Prize for Medical Research). Professor Radman elucidated and patented the genetic mechanism behind the extraordinary biodiversity and robustness of the bacterium Deinococcus, on which Deinove’s innovative strategy is based.
Deinove is dedicated to the development and commercial exploitation of innovative technological processes for the production of biofuels and other compounds of industrial or pharmaceutical interest by exploiting the Deinococci’s exceptional natural properties. Deinove intends to leverage its proprietary bacteria, technologies and processes by outlicensing to industrial partners.
Deinove has forged several strong collaborations with leading academic laboratories at Paris-Descartes University (Miroslav Radman and Ivan Matic), IGS-CNRS Marseille (Jean-Michel Claverie), CPBS CNRS-University of Montpellier (Jean-Paul Leonetti) and INSA Toulouse (Carole Jouve and Gérard Goma).
To date, Deinove has received a total of €3.4 million in equity investment from Truffle Capital and received €8.9 million in funding (including €6 million for Deinove) from the French government’s Strategic Industrial Innovation programme. The other project partners are Tereos (Europe’s leading bioethanol producer), its BENP Lillebonne and Syral subsidiaries and two academic labs. The DEINOL project’s goal is to pioneer ways of producing lignocellulosic (“second-generation”) ethanol in existing industrial installations and without the need for massive additional investment.
Deinove currently employs 14 staff. The company is headquartered in Paris and operates laboratory facilities at the Cap Alpha technology park in Montpellier, as part of its collaborative work with expert academic labs.
