Pharmaleads for botulinum detection and toxin assay

Professor Bernard Pierre Roques
Vice-President & Scientific Director

Bernard P. Roques graduated in Paris in pharmacy and pharmacology from René Descartes University and obtained a Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from Ecole Polytechnique. He became Assistant Professor at Ecole Polytechnique then Professor of Pharmacochemistry at René Descartes University where he was Director of the Molecular and Structural Pharmaco-chemistry Department (INSERM-CNRS).

His laboratory designed the first DNA polyintercalators and in 1977 the first antidiabetic agent with long time effect (Stagid^®). The most important contributions of Bernard P. Roques are in the field of neuropeptides with the discovery that pain and mood, controlled by the endogenous opioids enkephalins, are interrupted by two zinc metallopeptidases NEP and APN leading to the development of Tiorfan^® on the market as anti-diarrheal agent. He proposed the concept of dual NEP/APN inhibitors as a new means to obtain potent physiological analgesics and antidepressants and extended this concept to cardiovascular diseases.

Considered as a leader in physiological zinc metallopeptidases, Bernard P. Roques is a member of the French and European Academies of Sciences, the American College of Neuro-psychopharmacology, and the Scientific Council of Alzheimer Disease Foundation.

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Professor Marie-Claude Fournié-Zaluski
Deputy Scientific Director, Member of the Executive Committee

Marie-Claude Fournié-Zaluski earned a PhD in chemistry from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. She was then named Professor of Bio-organic chemistry at Pierre et Marie Curie University (Paris). Prof Fournie-Zaluski developed her research in the INSERM unit 266 headed by Prof Bernard P Roques. She was in charge of the group of synthesis in which she managed the solid phase peptid synthesis, the synthesis of inhibitors for various peptidases activities (such as aminopetidase (APN) and neprilysin (NEP), APA and dual inhibitors). Her group also developed selective inhibitors of enkephalin-inactivating enzymes, one of them Tiorfan® being on the market as antidiarrheal agent.

Marie-Claude Fournié-Zaluski worked in retrovirology on the nucleocapside protein NCp7: structural analysis, development of analogs and design of competitors. She participated with the structural analysis team of U2666 to the elucidation of peptide structures by NMR studies (enkephalins, CCK8 and CCK fragments) and with the biochemical team to structural and functional studies of various peptidases. She is currently deputy scientific director of Pharmaleads; she heads the development work of Pharmaleads in the field of metallopeptidases (design of substrates and inhibitors more specifically for ACE, ECE, NEP, APA, APN).

Michel Wurm

Director of Drug and Business Development, Member of the Executive Committee


Michel Wurm, MD, joined the Pharmaceutical Industry in 1987 after several years of medical practice and clinical pharmacology in peripheral vascular diseases. He has developed numerous drugs, in various professional environments (big Pharma, Biotech and CROs) and therapeutic fields: hypertension, lipids and atherosclerosis, diabetes, dermatology, CNS, vaccines… He is the author of the Guide Pratique de l’Investigateur en Recherche Clinique (CenterWatch, 2003).

Pierre Maillard
CFO, Member of the Executive Committee


Pierre Maillard earned a MBA from ESSEC business school in Paris region. He has 20 years of international experience in finance and development management. He worked for Dassault Aviation and Suez Environment as CFO mostly in international positions (Australia, Canada, ...). Before joining Pharmaleads in 2007, he was CFO of a listed Company (Euronext) in the automotive industry.