Management

With the aspiration of bringing curative drug therapies and visionary healthcare solutions to patients worldwide, Mr. Mauvernay is president of Après-demain, the parent company of Debiopharm, a Swiss, privately owned, biopharmaceutical company founded by his father over 40 years ago. Debiopharm, with 15 ongoing drug research programs, has developed two blockbuster therapies for cancer patients, oxaliplatin and triptorelin, along with a potential 3rd Head & Neck Cancer drug currently in phase III development with an international partner.  The holding company, Après-demain, invests in a variety of industries including companies impacting sustainable energy, education, food, & personalized services along with real estate, via 30+ direct investments in companies as well as LP investments in more than 100 funds globally. In addition, Mr. Mauvernay is the chairman of the investment committee of the Debiopharm Innovation Fund, backed by his experience as an entrepreneur in the international cosmetics industry before joining his family’s drug development business and asset diversification activities. His educational background includes a Master of Science in Economics and Marketing along with an MBA from the 'Institut d'Administration des Entreprises’.

Dr. Ducrey is CEO of Debiopharm and Senior Vice-Chairman of the Life Science activities of Après-demain, a privately-owned, mid-size biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel oncology and infectious disease therapies. The Swiss based company leverages expertise in drug development, drug formulation and drug delivery within a unique business model that connects discovery research products from start-ups and universities to larger pharmaceutical companies who make medicines available to patients worldwide. His role englobes the management of the various Life Science activities of Debiopharm including drug development, drug formulation & manufacturing and digital health investment. Having joined Debiopharm in 1995, his work in various roles has contributed to two blockbuster therapies for cancer patients, oxaliplatin and triptorelin, along with a potential 3rd blockbuster drug currently in phase III research in Head & Neck cancer with an international partner. Debiopharm’s pipeline includes 15 ongoing programs in various stages of development with the aim of curing cancer and infectious diseases through innovative cellular targets and novel modes of action. His educational background includes the School of Pharmacy of Lausanne University, Switzerland followed by a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Angela Zubel obtained her MD from Jagiellonian University Krakow, Poland, and her PhD from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Angela worked for several years as a physician and investigator at the Gynecology and Oncology Department of the Clinical University Hospital in Krakow, Poland. She worked several years as a Medical Leader at MerckSerono where she was responsible for Cetuximab late clinical development. She then spent several years at Novartis as Clinical Program Leader responsible for various oncology programs in early clinical development and as a deputy Site Head Translational Clinical Oncology in Basel. She subsequently held the position of Clinical Development Unit Head, Biopharmaceuticals at Sandoz. Angela joined Debiopharm International in February 2019.

Dr Lévy obtained his doctoral degree at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and spent several years as a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He moved then to Lausanne to take a leadership position at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, where he was awarded a Young Investigator Award of the Cancer Research Institute, a Professorship of the Swiss National Funds and an Associate Professorship of the University of Lausanne. He joined Debiopharm International in 2008 and has held several management positions before becoming Director, Head of Search & Evaluation and Scientific Innovation in 2018 and Chief Scientific Officer, Search & Evaluation and Scientific Innovation in 2024 . He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Eclosion in Geneva.

Vanessa Currat is the Chief Legal Officer, overseeing Intellectual Property, Legal Affairs and Pre-Commercial Alliances. In her role, she is applying her deep understanding of business and intellectual property in the biopharma industry, managing corporate governance while driving compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. She joined Debiopharm in 1996 where she served as a lawyer and IP Counsel, becoming IP Manager in 2000. Since implementing the merge of the IP and Legal Services departments in 2006, she has been the head of Legal Affairs of Debiopharm. She joined the Executive Committee in 2014 and in 2022 she took the lead in Pre-Commercial Alliances before she was promoted as Chief Legal Officer in 2024. Vanessa holds a Master of Business Law ("DESS") from the University of Paris V - René Descartes and a Master of International Economical Law from Paris I – La Sorbonne ("DEA"). She has more than 20 years of management experience in the biopharma industry with particular expertise in negotiation of licensing and acquisition deals, Intellectual Property management including strategy conception and implementation, risk management, competition, corporate and labor law. She also has a successful track record in handling worldwide commercial and patent litigations. Prior responsibilities include positions at Kimbrough & Associates, Alcatel-Lucent, Vetrotech, and Debiotech. Through her experience, collaboration and strategic expertise, she continues to solidify her commitment to the mission of Debiopharm and maintains an extensive list of responsibilities within the company.

Pierre obtained his Master degree in Business Administration and Finance at Dauphine-University (Paris, France) in 2000. Pierre started his career in 2000 at Air Liquide - world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health - in Corporate Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Strategic planning activities. He moved into pharma in 2008 joining Ipsen, a global listed biotech focused on Specialty Care, where he held Finance Director Positions for Belgium, France and then VP Finance for Global R&D to support the commercial development and the portfolio management. Pierre Jullian joined Debiopharm in 2018.

Nicolas Favre obtained his PhD from University of Geneva, Switzerland and his MBA from the OU Business school in the UK. Nicolas started his career in R&D in inflammation and oncology at Merck Serono. He then moved to commercial positions, first focusing on patient adherence to treatment at Aardex group and then on branding and brand name development at Brand Institute. Then, Nicolas moved to Denmark where he successively worked in Global Marketing on Azilect® at Lundbeck and on Levemir® at Novo Nordisk where he launched several campaigns and led key LCM initiatives of these multi-billion dollar brands. Since 2016, Nicolas joined Debiopharm where he first held the position in Product Marketing for triptorelin, before taking on the responsibility of Market Access. Today, Nicolas oversees Commercial and Business Development including Communication, Licensing, Marketing, Market Intelligence, Market Access & Medical Affairs activities.