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Alexis Peyroles
Biotech CEO and entrepreneur with a strong finance background and an international experience of 25 years mainly in Biotech and Pharma.
Major achievements in developing growth strategies, fundraising, licensing agreements, leading multicultural teams, improving operations management.
Along his career Alexis has developed an expertise in Strategy, Finance, Growth and Scale-up of innovative companies while driving change in France and in Emerging Markets. Worked in Japan, Eastern Europe, Brazil and France for both small and medium size companies as well as international corporations.
He joined HMR in 1996 as Financial Controller in Japan before becoming Head of Financial Control for the Baltic States for Sanofi. He was subsequently named Head of activities for Business Development in Eastern Europe.
From 2002 to 2005 Alexis created the subsidiary in Lyon of Ideactif, a communication agency where he acted also as Group Finance manager.
In 2005, Alexis joined the Guerbet group (a leader in the field of contrast products, especially in medical imaging) as Financial Control Manager becoming a member of the Group Executive Committee in 2007. In 2009 he was nominated as General Manager for Latin America, based in Brazil until 2012.
In 2013 Alexis Peyroles joined OSE Immunotherapeutics, a French listed biotech company focused on Immunotherapy, in the first year after its founding. He served initially as Chief Operating Officer, in charge of Business Development, Finance and Operations and in April 2018 became CEO and Board member of OSE Immunotherapeutics until early 2022.
In July 2022, he co-founded Inside Therapeutics, a DeepTech company revolutionizing mRNA manufacturing and is Chairman of the Strategic Committee.
In August 2024 he co-founded OWL Lifesciences, a company specialised on the discovery test of therapeutic targets and carriers for Central Nervous System unmet conditions using organoids and is Chairman of the Strategic Committee.
Alexis Peyroles is graduated from EDHEC Business School and holds an Executive MBA from Imperial College in London.
Jonathan Cool
A dynamic and accomplished entrepreneur, founder, senior executive, board member, strategic consultant, and investor with over 35 years of experience driving innovation in high-tech industries, Mr. Cool has founded, developed, and taken public or participated in the acquisition of several biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, including Human Genome Sciences, Molecular Devices, and Gene Networks. He has played a key role in negotiating strategic partnerships with leading multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Glaxo Smith Kline, Sanofi, Schering Plough (now Merck), Takeda, Nono Nordisk, Roche, and Pfizer, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to support research, development, and clinical trials.
He has served on numerous boards of directors of private and public U.S. companies, including Nasdaq-listed companies, in the biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare delivery sectors. Previously, he was President of Biovotion AG, a Swiss medical device company, and Partner of St. Clair Commons, a patient-centric medical campus integrating research, innovation, and healthcare delivery, and Executive Director of the Cleveland Clinic hospital system’s venture capital fund.
He began his career at Bain & Company, before embarking on founding, leading, and managing high-tech companies in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, genomics, drug delivery, patient-centered medicine, biological sensors, and materials science.
He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Ultra High Materials, a U.S.-based early-stage specialty chemicals and materials science company that uses proprietary chemistry and processes to develop environmentally smart, high-performance materials. With international experience spanning the United States, Asia, the European Union, China, and Russia, Mr. Cool has successfully advanced technological innovation from concept to commercialization, creating lasting value for patients, consumers, scientists, engineers, and shareholders.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Human Biology, cum laude, and honors from Stanford University.
Marc Le Bozec
55 y/o
Marc started as a consultant in organizational performance (Bossard Consultants) a further in strategy (Arthur D. Little). He incepted his first biotech company, BioProtein Technologies, back in 1998. Such company, dedicated to the manufacturing of biological drugs, was instrumental in the commercialization of a recombinant clotting factor for haemophilia. Marc joined Cellectis back in 2006 as a CFO and made it public on Paris stock market early 2007. He raised €120 million on behalf of Cellectis and paved the way for its future listing on Nasdaq. Marc was then a CEO at CYTOO, a biotech company based in the French Alps, from 2013 until 2015. He deeply modified its business model and prepared it to become a profitable company. He refinanced the company by himself with the support of the Chairman and some friends he gathered over the 2016-2018 period leading to a highly profitable organization.
Marc launched a UCITS late 2014 at Financière Arbevel, a Parisian boutique and further on a private equity fund up to ca. €40 million (first closing late 2018 and second closing in January 2020). Marc invested in 11 companies including 10 French ones and succeeded in exiting two of them during his tenure (TransCure bioServices sold to Cathay Capital with a 4x return early 2022 and Impacts sold to GE Healthcare with a 2x return early 2023).
Since mid-2023 Marc has been an advisor and a director for series of companies in the life sciences sector. Marc is graduated from HEC (92).
Shihong Nicolau
For over 20 years, Shihong managed a large IP portfolio at the Office of Innovation and Commercialization (aka TTO) at University of California at San Diego. In this influential role, she devised strategies for the university inventions and intellectual property portfolio, driving commercial development. Her responsibilities encompassed invention evaluation, IP due diligence, patent strategy development, IP/technology agreements, and contract/sponsorship compliance.
Prior to her comprehensive IP role in the university, Shihong had many years of experiences at biotech and pharma industry. During her tenure at Pfizer, ( Agouron acquired by Warner-Lambert then Pfizer) she made significant contributions in the research and development of antiviral and anticancer drugs, supporting clinical trials and FDA regulatory approval. Shihong currently works as IP advisor with NPS consulting firm and TPLG; and she is the principal advisor at LARTA institute.
Markus Cappel
Markus is an accomplished executive with over thirty years of experience in the biotech industry, known for his entrepreneurial acumen and consistently achieving outstanding results. His passion for developing novel medicines for patients with unmet medical needs has seen him transform a biotech organization from the discovery stage to a fully integrated commercial entity. He has a strong academic foundation in science and business, including an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from J.W. Goethe University in Germany.
In his most recent role as Chief Business Officer at ChemoCentryx, Markus played a pivotal role in Amgen’s $4 billion acquisition of the company, securing a 116% premium.
Markus led the product development and key aspects supporting the commercialization of TAVNEOS® (avacopan) across seven major markets countries. Markus also led the global commercial supply team, coordinating with ex-US alliance partners. He led multi-party negotiations with major pharma companies, securing a favorable commercialization agreement that preserved US commercial rights and development controls. At ChemoCentryx, he raised $435 million in public offerings, including an IPO, $138 million in private equity financing rounds and over $250 million in non-dilutive funding.
Before this, Markus served as VP of Business Development at Advanced Inhalation Research, where he provided executive-level support for the firm’ sale to Alkermes after just 18 months of operation. He forged a strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline in four respiratory fields, securing a $125 million upfront payment through high-stakes negotiations. Markus also negotiated an exclusive deal with Eli Lilly for the pulmonary delivery of human growth hormone and insulin.