Augustine Therapeutics appoints Sylvain Celanire as CEO to accelerate development of innovative medicines for rare neuromuscular diseases
Augustine Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on the development of innovative medicines for rare peripheral neuropathies and neurodegenerative diseases, announces the appointment of Dr. Sylvain Celanire, PhD as its Chief Executive Officer and the opening of drug discovery laboratories at the Leuven Bio-Incubator in Belgium.
Augustine Therapeutics’ Board of Directors announces the appointment of Dr. Sylvain Celanire as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Celanire brings extensive biopharmaceutical expertise to the company with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents in the field of central and peripheral nervous system disorders.
“Sylvain Celanire is a seasoned professional with a track record as entrepreneur and strategic thinker. In addition, his experience in neurosciences is perfect to lead Augustine Therapeutics into the next development phase,” stated Alain Huriez, MD, PhD, chairman at Advent France Biotechnology and chairman of the compensation committee.
Prior joining Augustine Therapeutics, Sylvain Celanire supported private and listed biotech companies as a consultant, managing preclinical discovery projects to first-in-man entry. He is also co-founder of Pragma Therapeutics, a French biotech company specializing in the discovery and development of innovative medicines for sensory-neural hearing loss and neuropsychiatric disorders. He started his career in 2002 at UCB New Medicines in Belgium before joining Addex Pharmaceutical (Switzerland) in 2007, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility. He holds a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Rouen (France) with postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Orleans (France) and Oxford (UK), collaborating with pharmaceutical industries. Sylvain Celanire coauthored over 25 original research and review articles and book chapters, serving as co-editor for Springer Drug Discovery series and Frontiers in Cellular Neurosciences. He is a co-inventor of over 20 patents and patent applications.
Sylvain Celanire, CEO: “I am very much looking forward to guiding Augustine Therapeutics towards approved therapies for patients in need. The new facilities at the Leuven Bio-Incubator are suited to accomplishing this mission, ideally situated adjacent to the VIB-KU Leuven Centre for Brain & Disease Research and the Leuven University Hospitals at Gasthuisberg.”
About Augustine Therapeutics
Augustine Therapeutics focuses on the development of novel, innovative medicines for rare neurodegenerative disorders, tackling severe debilitating diseases with high unmet medical needs such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a serious and rare disease, as well as other peripheral neuropathies. The company is building a portfolio of first-in-class therapeutic modalities from the ground-breaking research of Prof. Ludo Van Den Bosch, Prof. Joris De Wit and Prof. Bart De Strooper (VIB-KU Leuven). Augustine Therapeutics is a spin-off company of VIB and completed a seed financing round of EUR 4.2 million in December 2019 with the support of VIB, V-Bio Ventures and PMV, joined by Advent France Biotechnology and the Gemma Frisius Fund. www.augustinetx.com
About the Leuven Bio-Incubator
The Leuven Bio-incubator is fully dedicated to biomedical life sciences and offers opportunities for both start-ups and established companies. The incubator provides multifunctional office and lab space, as well as general and technical, logistical and environment-technical support, to R&D intensive life sciences companies with high growth potential. Leuven Bio-Incubator is situated in the Arenberg Science Park in Heverlee, Leuven. www.bio-incubator.be/en/
About VIB
VIB is an entrepreneurial research institute in life sciences located in Flanders, Belgium. VIB’s basic research leads to new and innovative insights into normal and pathological life processes. It unites the expertise of all its collaborators and research groups in a single institute, firmly based on its close partnership with 5 Flemish universities (Ghent University, KU Leuven, University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Hasselt University). VIB is supported by a solid funding program from the Flemish government. VIB has an excellent track record on translating basic scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. Since its foundation in 1996, VIB has created 27 start-up companies, now employing over 900 people. www.vib.be