NovAliX Appoints CSO
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NovAliX has announced that it has appointed pharma research executive Dr Luc Van Hijfte as CSO Drug Discovery.
Dr. Van Hijfte brings a wealth of experience in pharmaceutical research with over 25 years spent in drug discovery.
He joined from Janssen, a J&J company, where he served as Head of Medicinal Chemistry EU with responsibility over European based chemical sciences and ADMET.
During this tenure, that included responsibility as site head of the Janssen-Cilag Research Center in Val de Reuil, Dr Van Hijfte has been privileged to contribute to several successful projects with numerous programs entering into clinical development in the areas of Neurosciences, Oncology and Infectious Diseases, with compounds up to phase III level, the most advanced being the anti-tuberculosis compound TMC 207 currently being reviewed by the FDA for market authorization.
Prior to that Dr Van Hijfte had responsibilities at Hoechst Marion Roussel, subsequently at Sanofi as Head of chemistry of the Strasbourg research center.
Luc Van Hijfte earned his PhD in organic synthetic chemistry from the University of Gent under the supervision of Pr. M. Vandewalle, and has completed a post-doctoral training at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the laboratory of Pr. R.D. Little.
Dr Van Hijfte, who is sharing the vision of the company founders, believing in the relevance of biophysical sciences for drug discovery commented, "I have been impressed by the scope and scale of the biophysical technologies NovAliX has assembled. That was a compelling argument to join the company and have the opportunity to run fragment-based discovery programs".
Both, Denis Zeyer, CEO, and Jean-Paul Renaud, CSO Science & Technology, and founding members of the company are enthusiastic about that addition to the team. "This is a defining moment for our company. Since inception, we have been concentrating on the development of our scientific capabilities in chemistry and biophysics, using a combination of internal technology developments and external sourcing including corporate acquisitions and academic collaborations. With Luc Van Hijfte now joining the team, we add significant pharmaceutical research leadership to our small molecule discovery capabilities".
