A team of renowned experts and key opinion leaders from around the world
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Ignacio Faus, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Executive Officer,
Chairman of the Board
Having joined NFL Biosciences in 2019 as an investor, Dr. Ignacio Faus joined the management team in early 2021 as Director and Chief Executive Officer of NFL Biosciences. In February 2023 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Ignacio Faus has 27 years of experience in large and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies and in private and public biotech companies: Bristol Myers Squibb, Grupo Uriach, Ferrer and co-founder in 2006 and CEO of Palau Pharma (divested in 2013). In recent years, Ignacio Faus has also been a Director of several private and public biotech companies as well as private equity funds in Europe and the United States. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry (Indiana University, USA) and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University, USA).
Bruno Lafont, M.Sc., Executive MBA
Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer,
Board member
Engineer in Biochemistry, National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA), Toulouse. Excecutive MBA from EPFL Lausanne, Technology Management.
Co-founder of NFL Biosciences in 2006, in charge of its management and of the pharmaceutical development of NFL 101 since 2009. Twelve years in the management team of PCM, an international French industrial group for which he launched and led the US subsidiary.
Guillaume Audema
Chief Financial Officer
Guillaume holds a Master's degree in Accounting, Control and Audit from the University of Montpellier.
He spent 7 years as a financial auditor in the international firms KPMG then PWC, working on companies of all sizes and in particular listed on the financial markets.
After a first experience in business, Guillaume joined the financial department of NFL Biosciences.
Violaine Desort-Hénin
Medical Operation Director
Violaine Desort-Henin holds a State Veterinary Doctorate from the University of Lyon, supplemented by university degrees in management of toxicology studies, interpretation of clinical studies, training as an investigator of clinical studies, in product safety and pharmacovigilance, and practical training at the Croix Rousse hospital, at the Cochin hospital, at the APHP and at the Clinique du Parc in Lyon.
Violaine has been working for more than 10 years in the preclinical and clinical development of drugs for human use. She was notably in charge of piloting clinical studies within Thea laboratories and the start-ups Eyevensys, iDD Biotech and Adocia.
Marie-Laure Fraisse
Senior Clinical Project Leader
Marie-Laure Fraisse holds a nursing diploma and a master's degree in drug development from EudiPharm in Lyon.
After working as a nurse in several hospitals for 4 years, Marie-Laure moved to monitoring and then managing clinical studies.
Marie-Laure was thus Clinical Research Attaché (ARC) within the Servier laboratories and at the Annecy Regional Hospital before joining Merck Sereno as manager and beeing promoted clinical project director. She then worked for Théa and Medincell laboratories.
BOARD MEMBERS
The Board of directors comprises 5 members, including two executive members: Ignacio Faus, the Chairman and CEO of NFL Biosciences and Bruno Lafont, founder and COO. The other members are presented below.
Francis Ahner, M.Sc., Patent Attorney
Board member
Intellectual Property expertise
Former President of the International Federation of Industrial Property Attorneys (IFIPA). M.Sc. Cheminal Engineering Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, graduate of the Center for International Industelectual Property Studies (CIIPS) and former professor at CIIPS. Industrial property consultant, specializing in chemistry, pharmacy and cosmetology, former partner of Regimbeau in Paris, where he spent 45 years. He is also a European agent with the European Patent Office (EPO), responsible for opposition and appeals for private companies and public bodies in France, the United States and Japan.
Michel Huc, Pharm.D.
Board member
Manufacturing and Regulatory Affairs expertise
Ph.D. in pharmacy, 30 years of expercience in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously managing director and chief pharmacist of several pharmaceutical companies.16 years with Pierre Fabre Laboratories with expertise in the development, manufacturing, quality control and regulatory affairs of botanical medicines where he was the pharmacist responsible for Pierre Fabre's herbal portfolio.
Yannick Plétan, M.D.
Board member
Clinical Development expertise
Graduated in pneumology, immunology, clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics - postdoctoral fellow at INSERM and visiting professor at the University of California Davis. After starting his carreer in hospital practice, Yannick joined the pharmaceutical industry where he held management positions for 20 years in research and development and medical affairs: Sanofi, Pierre Fabre Research Institute, Pfizer and Roche-Genentech. Decisive role in the creation and global development of the nicotine patch, and in the final phase of development and the launch of Chantix®. Harvard Business School, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC).
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORS
Prof. Carole Clair
Dr. Clair is the current President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Europe (SRNT-E). Graduate physician from the University of Lausanne (2002), FMH specialist in general internal medicine (2007), PhD thesis (MD) on the link between smoking and diabetes (2008). After clinical training, completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2009-2011) at the Center for General Internal Medicine and Tobaccoology at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston), training in clinical epidemiology (Harvard School of Public Health - Boston). Master of Science degree (2012). In Switzerland, obtaining an FNS Ambizione grant (2015) to continue his research (stopping smoking in people with diabetes). Obtaining a Privat Docent and a CLINICAL title MER (2016), appointment as an assistant professor at the PMU (director of the research and development centre).
Prof. Paul Aveyard
Professor of Behavioural Medicine (Oxford), member of Wolfson College and Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (Oxford). His job is to help people change their behaviour (prevention or treatment of serious diseases), based in particular on stopping or reducing tobacco use. He has served as President of the UK Society of Behavioural Medicine, Director of the Association for the Study of Obesity and a fellow of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. Editor for the journals: Addiction and Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group. Member of NICE and advised the Ministry of Health on smoking and obesity.
Dr. Mitch Nides
Dr. Nides is the President of Los Angeles Clinical Trials, specializing in clinical research and the development of products and drugs to help smokers stop using burnt tobacco.
Dr. Nides has been the lead investigator in more than 60 smoking cessation trials testing nicotine and nicotine-free products, including patches, gums, lozenges, inhalers, Zyban and varenicline. From 1987 to 1999, Dr. Nides was a research researcher on smoking cessation in the Department of Lung and Critical Care at UCLA School of Medicine. Over the years, Dr. Nides has trained thousands of physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other health professionals on how to help their smokers quit.
Prof. Scott Leischow
Dr. Leischow is a past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) and founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Tobacco Regulatory Science. He joined Arizona State University in June 2017, and is Professor and Director of Clinical and Translational Sciences. Previously, he was at the Arizona Mayo Clinic from 2012 to 2017, where he led the Health Equity and Community Health Research Program (REACH) and co-led cancer prevention and control. He was previously Associate Director at the University of Arizona Cancer Control Center and was also Head of the Tobacco Control Research Division at the National Cancer Institute and Senior Advisor for Tobacco Policy in the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His research focuses on pharmacological and behavioural treatments for tobacco dependence, tobacco regulation and population health.
Prof. Stuart Ferguson
Associate Professor Ferguson is a health psychologist at the College of Health and Medicine School of Medicine at the University of Tasmania in Australia. He is primarily interested in health-related behaviour change (for example, quitting smoking, managing weight, etc.). His main research interest is to explore the process and factors of relapse, especially in cigarette smokers. He is also interested in the effectiveness of treatment and the factors that influence the likelihood of treatment use and adherence to treatment in attempts to stop treatment. To explore these topics, Professor Assoc Ferguson uses a wide range of research methodologies, ranging from laboratory techniques to sophisticated field surveillance in near real time.
François Brackman, M.D.
Graduated from medicine, clinical pharmacology and human pharmacokinetics.
Over 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry, as Vice President (Global Development and Medical Affairs), VP of Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Head of Development Platform.
Member of boards of directors, strategic research and develoment boards and postfolio management committees. (Servier, Sandoz/Novartis, Fournier, Pierre Fabre). Involved in regulatory interactions with national/international authorities (FDA, Health Canada, EMA, ANSM, MHRA, Koseisho) for international development programs and marketing authorizations.