
About Us
Management Team
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Marc de Garidel, MBA Chief Executive Officer & Interim Board Chair
Marc has more than 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector and as a CEO for the last 12 years. Marc led the successful sale of CinCor Pharma for up to USD 1.8B, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, to AstraZeneca in February 2023, after joining the firm in July 2021. Marc also led the sale of Corvidia Therapeutics in August 2020 to Novo Nordisk for USD 2.1B in total consideration after having joined the company as CEO in April 2018. He was the CEO of Ipsen between November 2010 and July 2016, overseeing the development of its U.S. presence. Prior to that, Marc worked for Amgen and Eli Lilly in jobs of increasing responsibilities in various international markets. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Ipsen since 2010 and has been a member of the board of directors of Claris Bio since 2020. Marc has a degree in Civil Engineering from the Ecole des Travaux Publics in Paris, a Master’s degree in International Management (MIM) from Thunderbird Global School Management and an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Didier Blondel EVP, Chief Financial Officer & Board Secretary
Didier was Chief Financial Officer at Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a Lyon-based joint-venture between Sanofi and Merck, and European leader in human vaccines, since 2012. During the previous 20-year period, Didier held a wide scope of senior finance positions at Sanofi, in Commercial Operations and then R&D, where he became Global R&D CFO. He started his career as an auditor at Price Waterhouse Coopers, after graduating from the Commercial Institute of Nancy (ICN), a leading French Business School. He also holds a Master in Finance and Accounting degree from University of Nancy, as well as a Professional Certificate in Finance and Accounting (DESCF).
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Sheldon Sloan, M.D., M. Bioethics Chief Medical Officer
Sheldon Sloan brings over 30 years of experience in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, with an extensive track record in the field of gastroenterology and IBD. Prior to joining Abivax, Sheldon worked for Arena Pharmaceuticals and, after its acquisition, for Pfizer. He was Program Lead for Etrasimod UC, responsible for cross-functional leadership, planning and management, operational business process planning, and execution management of the Ulcerative Colitis program, including its global submission and launch. Before joining Arena Pharmaceuticals, Sheldon held different leadership positions at J&J in Medical Affairs, R&D, and Science Policy. In his last position at J&J, he was Global Medical Affairs Leader for IBD, leading the global launch strategy and execution for Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis for Stelara. Sheldon also has a strong track record in bioethics and has been involved on different levels in questions addressing bioethics issues including animal care and use and human subjects research. Sheldon holds an M.D. from Rush Medical College, Chicago, USA, and a Master of Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He has authored a large number of scientific publications and abstracts and contributed to various books in the gastroenterology and immunology fields.
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Ida Hatoum Chief People Officer
Ida brings over 15 years of experience and a strong track record in talent acquisition and development and has occupied different leading People Operations positions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Abivax, Ida was Senior Vice President and Head of People Talent and Culture at CinCor Pharma, where she successfully managed and lead the recruitment strategy and organizational design of the company during a period of strong growth. Ida holds a bachelor’s in pharmacy from the University of Toledo, Ohio.
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Michael Ferguson, B.S., MBA Chief Commercial Officer
Michael brings over 22 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with an extensive track record in the field of Gastroenterology (GI) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). He has spent the last 16 years of his career in large pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including 13 years in leading commercial positions at Shire/Takeda, followed by Arena Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Vice President Global Commercial Marketing and Planning and specifically as Global Commercial Lead for Etrasimod across all GI Indications. Michael holds both a B.S. and an MBA with honors in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University as well as a post graduate degree from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, in Pharmaceutical Marketing.
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Pierre Courteille, Pharmacist, MBA Chief Business Officer
Pierre has been appointed Chief Business Officer in May 2023. Prior to this appointment, he served as Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President Business Development at Abivax. Pierre has over 25 years of experience in marketing, sales and business development within the pharmaceutical industry (13 years based in Japan). Prior to joining Abivax in April 2015, he was Senior VP sales and marketing for Guerbet as well as Chief Executive Officer of MEDEX (medical devices company owned by Guerbet) from 2012. From 2009, Pierre served as VP Sales for Asia, Latin America and EMEA and met the ambitious objective of optimizing commercial performance across these three regions. As President of Guerbet Japan and VP for Guerbet Asia, Pierre has successfully managed the roll-out of its Japanese subsidiary and led the development of other branches in Asia. Mr. Courteille holds a pharmacy degree and MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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Didier Scherrer, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer
Didier, prior to joining Abivax, combined the functions of CEO and Scientific Director at Splicos. He also has experience from prior roles as Associate Director (Capability Pathways – Discovery Enabling Capabilities and Sciences) of the Research Department of AstraZeneca and as Head of Research at LFB Biotechnologies. At LFB Biotechnologies he led a team of fifty scientists in charge of developing the portfolio of therapeutic proteins in oncology, autoimmune diseases and hematology-oncology. He is the author of numerous publications and presentations in the field of systems biology applied to the research and drug development. He received a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Université Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg I) and completed his post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and then at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
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Jérôme Denis, Ph.D. EVP Process Development & Manufacturing
Jérôme has more than 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and drug product manufacturing for clinical and commercial use. He started his career as project manager in Canada and France working on several programs targeting different infectious diseases. He joined Imaxio (Lyon, France) in 2009 as Executive Head of Development and then Associate Director of Vaccine Developmen and he successfully initiated and led different process development and transfer programs. In 2014, he joined Abivax and was in charge of the implementation and coordination of all process development and manufacturing operations. He also handles Investigational Medicinal Product supply for all global clinical studies of Abivax. Jérôme holds a Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from Laval University (Québec, Canada).