Guillaume P. Costecalde MSc, MBA
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Guillaume Costecalde has served as Physiogenex’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 2003 and was part of the team that founded Physiogenex. He initiated his career in start-up creation at Genopole (Evry, France), the biggest geographic concentration of biotech companies in France. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Costecalde worked at the French Embassy (Washington DC, United States), where he served as Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology attaché for North America. Mr. Costecalde took charge of many regulatory and official missions for the French government. He was also charged with fostering the development of French companies in the US. Mr. Costecalde was Publications Director of Flash Biotech Info, a journal aimed at key government and company decision-makers in France and focusing on biotech and pharmaceutical development strategies in the United States. Mr. Costecalde earned two Masters degrees from Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse, France), the first in physiology and the second in genetics and molecular biology. Mr. Costecalde received his MBA from the Audencia School of Management (Nantes, France), specializing in accounting and finance.
Thierry Sulpice PhD
Founder, CSO
Dr. Thierry Sulpice has served as Physiogenex’s Chief Scientific Officer since September 2004. Prior to joining Physiogenex he was head of the in vivo pharmacology team working on new cardiometabolic targets at Sanofi-Aventis. During his 9-year tenure at Sanofi-Aventis, Thierry was in charge of drug discovery optimization and preclinical development for projects targeting the cardiometabolic syndrome. He was particularly involved in the cannabinoid CB1 receptor program. He managed many animal studies aiming at determining the potential efficacy of new drug targets. He developed several in vivo technologies and new animal models directly reproducing metabolic disorders and heart diseases. His expertise also covers the physiopathology and pharmacology of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and vascular/heart diseases. Thierry holds a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Grenoble, France. Since 1990 he has been actively engaged in basic research on cardiovascular physiopathology and spent two years working on the physiopathology of the diabetic heart at Orsay University, France.
Delphine PUERTOLAS MSc, MBA
Founder, Director of Regulatory Affairs
Delphine Puertolas has served with Physiogenex as Director of Regulatory Affairs since September 2003 and was part of the team that founded Physiogenex. As an expert in both business and biotechnology, she is in charge of Physiogenex quality assurance and regulatory affairs. She previously acquired experience with several biotechnology and agrofood companies, both nationally and internationally level (Barcelona, Ghent), working on research project management and quality processes. She earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Toulouse Business School in 2002. She received her Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Montpellier (France) in 2000.
François BRIAND PhD
Project Manager
Dr. Briand has served as a Physiogenex Project Manager since October 2007. He previously worked in the laboratory of Dr Daniel J Rader in Philadelphia, USA, in 2006. In collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, his work focused on novel drugs affecting HDL metabolism and reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). Using in vivo RCT assays and HDL-cholesterol kinetics, he evaluated the effects of an LXR agonist, PPAR agonists, niacin, probucol and ezetimib in various mouse models. In 2006, Dr. Briand earned his PhD from the University of Nantes, France. It dealt with the development of a canine model of obesity and insulin resistance. He has extensively studied lipoprotein metabolism and RCT, using an in vivo kinetic model that he validated with reference compounds such as rosiglitazone and atorvastatin.
Bénédicte Prunet-Marcassus PhD
Project Manager
Dr. Prunet-Marcassus has served as a Physiogenex Project Manager since September 2005. She previously worked at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) from 2001. In collaboration with a pharmaceutical company (Institut Servier), she evaluated the effects of novel anti-obesity/anti-diabetic compounds both in vitro and in vivo. She gained in-depth experience in drug screening with cultured adipocytes. She has used a variety of functional and molecular approaches to study adipocyte metabolism both ex vivo and in culture. She also became highly skilled in drug evaluation though experiments with mice, rats and hamsters. Dr. Prunet-Marcassus obtained her PhD from Université Denis Diderot, Paris, in 2001. It dealt with the effects of melatonin on hamster adipose tissue in vitro and in vivo.