Dr Lucy Lu is appointed to the Inventiva Board of Directors
Daix (France), May 28, 2018 - Inventiva S.A. ("Inventiva" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), announces today the appointment of Dr Lucy Lu to its Board of Directors.
Dr Lu has a wide experience of over 15 years in the biotech and healthcare sector as an investment banker, sell-side analyst and CFO/CEO of biotech companies listed in the United States. As such, she will bring additional expertise in finance and clinical development to Inventiva. Drawing on her experience and knowledge of the American market, Dr Lu will also advise and help the Company in its development in the United States.
Lucy Lu joins Inventiva following the Company's €35.5 million capital increase on April 13, 2018, in which Sofinnova Crossover I SLP fund ("Sofinnova") has participated for an amount of 10 million euros. In this respect, Sofinnova proposed Dr Lu's appointment to Inventiva's Board of Directors.
Alongside her role at Inventiva, Lucy Lu has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Avenue Therapeutics since its inception in 2015. Prior to this, she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Fortress Biotech from 2012 to 2017. Before working in the biotech industry, Lu gained 10 years of experience in healthcare-related equity research and investment banking working at Citigroup Investment Research (2007-2012) amongst others. Lucy Lu holds an M.D. degree from the New York University School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. She also obtained a B.A. from the University of Tennessee's College of Arts and Science.
To mark this appointment, Frédéric Cren, Chief Executive Officer and cofounder of Inventiva, said: " We are very happy to welcome Lucy to our team. Her industry knowledge and experience of the U.S. market from a scientific, financial and managerial perspective will help us accelerate our development and achieve new milestones together ."
"I am pleased to be joining the Inventiva Board of Directors," added Dr Lu. "I believe that Inventiva is at the leading edge of innovation, and it is an honour to work with this team to help advance its novel and differentiated programs for life-threatening conditions that are not addressed with current therapies."
Jacques Teurillat, Partner for the Crossover Fund at Sofinnova Partners, commented: "Dr Lucy Lu has a strong track record in the biotech space and brings industry experience, passion and savviness. She will be a great addition to Inventiva's Board of Directors."
About Inventiva: www.inventivapharma.com
Inventiva is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development of drugs interacting with nuclear receptors, transcription factors and epigenetic modulators. Inventiva's research engine opens up novel breakthrough therapies against fibrotic diseases, cancers and orphan diseases with substantial unmet medical needs.
Lanifibranor, its lead product, is an anti-fibrotic treatment acting on the three alpha, gamma and delta PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors), which play key roles in controlling the fibrotic process. Its anti-fibrotic action targets two initial indications with substantial unmet medical need: NASH, a severe and increasingly prevalent liver disease already affecting over 30 million people in the United States, and systemic sclerosis, a disease with a very high mortality rate and for which there is no approved treatment to date.
Inventiva is also developing a second clinical program with odiparcil (IVA 336) for the treatment of patients with mucopolysaccaridosis type VI (or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome), a rare and severe gene disease affecting children. Odiparcil has also the potential to address other MPS types, characterized by the accumulation of chondroitin or dermatan sulfate (MPS I or Hurler/Sheie syndrome, MPS II or Hunter syndrome, MPS IVa or Morqio syndrome and MPS VII or Sly syndrome). Inventiva is also developing a portfolio of early research projects in the field of oncology.
Inventiva benefits from partnerships with world-leading research entities such as the Institut Curie in the field of oncology. Two strategic partnerships have also been established with world-class major pharmaceutical companies AbbVie and Boehringer Ingelheim in the fields of autoimmune diseases (specifically in psoriasis) and fibrosis respectively. These partnerships provide milestone payments to Inventiva upon the achievement of pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on the products resulting from the partnerships.
Inventiva employs over 100 highly qualified employees and owns state-of-the-art R&D facilities near Dijon, acquired from the international pharmaceutical group Abbott. The Company owns, a proprietary chemical library of over 240,000 molecules as well as integrated biology, chemistry, ADME and pharmacology platforms.
Contacts
| Inventiva Frédéric Cren Chief Executive Officer info@inventivapharma.com + 33 3 80 44 75 00 | Brunswick Julien Trosdorf / Yannick Tetzlaff Media relations inventiva@brunswickgroup.com + 33 1 53 96 83 83 | LifeSci Advisors Chris Maggos Investor relations chris@lifesciadvisors.com + 41 79 367 6254 |
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