Trophos appoints Jean-Louis Abitbol as director of clinical development
Marseilles, 1st October 2004 - Trophos, a biopharmaceutical company focused on drug discovery and development for neurodegenerative disorders, announced today the recruitment of Dr. Jean-Louis Abitbol as Director of Clinical Research. Dr. Abitbol will be responsible for the clinical studies of the company's drug candidate, TRO19622 which is expected to start the Phase I clinical trial later this year for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), serious neurological disorders, and TRO40303 which is in preclinical development. Dr. Abitbol will also support further development of the company's therapeutic compounds.
Dr. Abitbol, MD, has a long-standing expertise in clinical trials management. Prior to joining Trophos, he was Director of Clinical Research for Pierre Fabre Research Institute (France). Previously he was with Jouvenal, Warner Lambert, Park Davis and Pfizer where he studied compounds in a variety of therapeutic indication through Phase 3 and marketing.
Antoine Béret, Trophos' CEO commented: "I am very proud to welcome Jean-Louis, his arrival marks a critical step in Trophos' development with the beginning of the clinical trials of our drug candidate TRO19622, which has accomplished its preclinical development in one year. This ability to rapidly move novel drug candidates into the clinic highlights the potential of Trophos to develop the products from its discovery platform.
Trophos is a biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of novel therapeutic compounds for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Trophos has fully integrated preclinical and clinical capabilities. The company has developed specific know-how and is focused on recreating neuronal degeneration in the test tube and screening small molecules libraries. Compounds that improve neuron survival in that context are then rapidly developed to drug candidate stage, thus giving Trophos a competitive advantage. The company has proprietary compounds in preclinical and clinical development for the treatment of motor neuron diseases, Huntington's disease and neuroprotection in general. Trophos, founded in 1999, is based in Marseilles, France. The company has 35 employees.