Philippe Archinard is the President and CEO of Transgene
How and when did your company start, and where are you located?
Transgene was founded as a private company in 1979 with the support of world-renowned biologists, Pierre Chambon and Philippe Kourilsky. The company initially focused on carrying out third party research projects in the fields of genetic engineering, immunology, virology, molecular and cellular biology and protein chemistry. Today, Transgene is a publicly traded French biopharmaceutical company, part of the Institut Merieux Group, dedicated to the development of therapeutic vaccines and immunotherapeutic products for the treatment of unmet medical needs in oncology and infectious diseases. The company headquarters are located in Illkirch, near Strasbourg, France with sites in Lyon, Kensington and Shanghai.
How many employees do you have, and how do you find/attract them?
The company has a highly skilled workforce of some 270 full-time employees who joined Transgene from major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as from research academic institutions. What attracts them is the maturity of the company’s pipeline and its focus on finding solutions to today’s major unmet medical needs.
What are the main focus and platform technology(ies) of your company?
The main focus is the design and development of cutting-edge immunotherapeutic products to treat cancers and chronic infectious diseases. Our expertise covers all stages of product development, from research to the manufacture of clinical batches, and the conducting of clinical trials.
Our technological platform consists of gene transfer technology that aims to help patients fight life threatening diseases through restoring the immune’s system capacity to eliminate abnormal or infected cells. In the products under clinical development we currently use three types of vectors: Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), vaccinia virus and adenovirus.
Can you provide a short overview of your product pipeline?
Four products are currently in clinical development: TG4010 is in phase 2/3 trial for the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer; Pexa-vec (JX594/TG6006) is in multiple phase 2 and phase 1 trials for the treatment of Hepatocarcinoma and Metastatic Colorectal cancers; TG4001 has completed phase 2 trials in HPV-induced pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix and will begin a phase 2 trial for HPV induced oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma at the end of 2013; and TG4040 has completed a phase 2 study for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis C.
Who is your competition, and what advantage(s) does your products/technology offer?
Some companies are involved in viral-based products for therapy of cancer & infectious diseases. Our products offer a unique combination of innate & adaptive immune responses against cancer and infectious diseases and antigens.
What were the “highlights“ in your recent development of vaccines/immunotherapeutics?
POC of clinical activity of TG4010, TG4001, TG4040 were obtained in clinical trials. In the case of TG4010, a predictive biomarker of response to the drug was identified.
What have been the most critical problems in developing products in your field, and how can your company’s technology help overcome these problems?
As for all other drugs, the challenge is to identify the signatures predictive of patients that will benefit from our products. Thanks to a major commitment of Transgene in the field of biomarkers, such signatures have been identified.
What is your company’s value proposition?
We are developing products that have a unique science and are potential technological breakthroughs. We are less than 12 mo away from the decision to move to phase 3 trials with our two most advanced programs that together have multi-billion dollar market potential: investing now in TG could be highly rewarding should this transition happen.
What business development strategy do you pursue?
We aim at retaining as much value as possible while securing long term financing for the company. Therefore, our objective in business development is to retain development and/or marketing or co-promotion rights whenever it is possible. A lot depends of course on the partners’ own strategic intent and so sometimes we have to be pragmatic.
How does your company attract partners?
We attract partners through cutting-edge science, excellent development capabilities, strong Intellectual Property, and entrepreneurial mindset.
Who are your most important partners?
Novartis, Jennerex (a start-up based in San Francisco) and the leading European cooperative group EORTC.
How do you balance performing work in-house vs out-sourcing?
It is well balanced in terms of human and financial resources, both in research and in development.
What are your product development goals for the next 3 years?
Moving our two lead products into phase 3 by year-end is by far the most critical milestones for the company. If we do so, we should be close to market in the next three years.