Abivax appoints Marc de Garidel as CEO

French clinical-stage biotech Abivax (Euronext Paris: ABVX) has appointed Marc de Garidel as chief executive (CEO) and interim board chairman of the company, effective May 5, 2023.

Corinna zur Bonsen-Thomas will step down as acting chair, a position she has held since August 2022, and will remain a board member. Prof Hartmut Ehrlich will retire from the CEO position, which he has held since the company’s founding in 2013, but will remain as a strategic advisor until the transition is complete. The company expects to appoint a long-term board chairman in 2023.

Abivax noted that Mr de Garidel has an outstanding track record in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector and as a CEO for the last 12 years. He has led the successful sale of CinCor Pharma for up to $1.8 billion, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, to AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) in February 2023, after joining the firm in July 2021. Mr de Garidel also sold Corvidia Therapeutics in August 2020 to Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) for $2.1 billion in total consideration after having joined the company in April 2018.