Bioxodes

From its incorporation Bioxodes has benefited from an experienced team of founders with a track record in research, drug development, and commercialisation as well as significant thrombosis/cardiovascular experience and knowledge.

	Marc Vander Kelen (Chief Executive Officer) was most recently CEO of ImmuneHealth, a Belgian immunodiagnostic company providing services to the biopharma industry. He was previously Chief Business & Financial Officer at Henogen, now part of Novasep, the contract manufacturing organization and before that gained extensive experience in technology transfer notably at the University of Gembloux, Belgium and at a range of bioscience start-up companies including ImProBio, Biagral and DeltaPro. Mr Vander Kelen took his first degree at AgroBiotech University of Liège (Master in Bioengineering). Mr Vander Kelen will include the role of Chief Financial Officer within his responsibilities.

	Edmond Godfroid (Chief Scientific Officer) is a long standing senior professor at the University of Brussels (ULB) where he has applied his expertise in molecular biology to the discovery of pharmacologically active proteins in the saliva of the Ixodes tick. Dr Godfroid’s work is the basis for the creation of Bioxodes. He received his PhD in Molecular Biology from ULB in 1988 and subsequently acquired post-doctoral experience in the field of Alzheimer‘s disease at the Université Catholique de Louvain. In 1992, he joined Applied Genetics (ULB) where he developed the first PCR-based diagnostic device specific to the tick-borne bacterial pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, the causal agent of Lyme disease. In 1995, Dr Godfroid began research on the molecular interaction between Ixodes ticks and their hosts. He is currently Head of the Ectoparasite Molecular Biology Unit at ULB and is named as inventor or co-inventor on 14 patents. Additionally he is the author or co-author of more than 50 internationally peer-reviewed papers, published in high-impact-factor journals. He has experience of a range of collaborations with academic groups and pharmaceutical companies.

	Michel Guyaux (Pre-Clinical Director) obtained his PhD in chemistry from the University of Brussels (ULB) and a Master in pharmacochemistry and drug design from the University of Lille. He joined the pharmaceutical sector after postdoctoral research in oncology and parasitology in the University of California (San Franciso) and the University of Brussels (ULB), respectively. Dr Guyaux was latterly Senior Group Leader at the multinational biopharmaceutical firm UCB where he focussed on drug discovery research and development in the field of cardiovascular, inflammatory and CNS diseases. As project manager and head of safety pharmacology department he was actively involved in the preclinical evaluation and development programs of new therapeutical entities including small and large molecules. He is a specialist in early stage clinical and pre-clinical programs integrating toxicology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

In addition to Marc VanderKelen (CEO), Edmond Godfroid (CSO) and Michel Guyaux (Pre-Clinical Director) the founding team includes Nicolas Havelange and Sophie Combe.

	Nicolas Havelange with the European Vaccine Initiative and Chief Operating Officer at the Belgian start-up CuraVac. Before that he was Process and Business Development Director at Henogen, now part of Novasep, the CMO. Mr Havelange trained as a production engineer at the University of Brussels (ULB) with a focus on bio-production of recombinant molecules at industrial scale.

	Sophie Combe is a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry with previous industrial experience in both large and small companies. Dr. Combe spent 6 years leading clinical development at the UK-based cardiovascular start-up, Trigen, where she was responsible for designing and executing a range of phase 1 and 2 clinical studies on novel antithrombotic agents. Previously, at Aventis (now Sanofi) she led the global clinical development of enoxaparin, the marketleading $1.5 billion blockbuster antithrombotic Lovenox®/Clexane®, for prevention of deep vein thrombosis in surgical, trauma and internal medicine patients. In addition, she has co-chaired the Global Project Team for that company’s next generation antithrombotic products including intravenous factor Xa inhibitor for which she was global clinical project leader. She obtained her MD from University of Paris VI in 1982 followed by a thesis in 1985 and an MSc degree in 1989 in Immunology, Biotechnology and Transfusion from the same university.