CEO spotlight: Thierry Abribat's third straight win

With a boost from the Sofinnova Crossover Strategy, Amolyt Pharma attracts AstraZeneca bid

This is part of an occasional series about entrepreneurs, CEOs, and other leaders Sofinnova Partners has worked with. These people form the relationships that have helped us create and nurture companies that improve people’s lives. These are our Partners for Life.

On March 14, 2024, the Sofinnova Partners portfolio company Amolyt Pharma agreed to be acquired by AstraZeneca for as much as $1.05 billion. It was a significant milestone that underscored the crucial role played by the Sofinnova Crossover Strategy in providing later-stage capital at a critical moment in the company’s growth trajectory.

Sofinnova Partners led Amolyt’s Series C round, which gave the company space to “continue working tirelessly on bringing novel, life-changing treatments to patients with rare endocrine and related diseases,” Thierry Abribat, Founder and CEO, said.

Abribat describes himself as a “doer,” a hands-on CEO who learned the complexities of drug development from the inside. After completing a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, he found his true calling while working as part of a Sanofi research unit in Toulouse. Sanofi sent him to the University of Montréal for 16 months, but he stayed on to do a PhD in endocrinology. He had the opportunity to work with the Salk Institute, where he was inspired by the French Nobel Laureate Dr. Roger Guillemin, who impressed him with his vision of translating research into patient care.

After gaining experience in several biotechs, Abribat decided in 2007 to become a biotech founder in his home country of France. His first two companies had successful exits. The third, Amolyt, has made him something of a living legend in France’s biotech ecosystem.

Q&A

What qualities made it possible for you to go from researcher to entrepreneur?

I found out early that I'm one of those people who needs to know everything about what my company is up to. — I'm really a doer. And to be successful in drug development you need experience. Drug development in a small biotech involves having a lot of different skills around the table, and you need to learn and understand as much as possible. I spent time early in my career learning to execute both in drug development and in business development.

You had one success, then another, better success. Why didn't you just stop there? Why did you go for number three?

After three months of much-needed rest, I got bored and decided to do another one. I'm a little bit atypical as a CEO because I've only been CEO of companies I founded. This takes a lot of energy and passion, but it is what I like.

For the third company, Amolyt, I really wanted to change gears. I had done well twice with very small, single-asset companies, but I wanted to have more ambition for this company, at the operational level, and even look at commercialization if given the opportunity.

I was lucky enough to have some track record this time, from my first two companies. And the VC industry in Europe had become much more dynamic.

I wanted the company to have a presence in both Europe and the United States, so a month after closing the Series A, we opened an office in Boston. We were able to put together a very nice team of seasoned executives, people who had done it before. We had a very strong team at all levels, from finance to R&D. Most of the executives were based in Boston.

It was a smart move — we had good visibility, and our lead product, licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital, met all our expectations.

We were able to assemble a strong investor syndicate through Series A, Series B, and Series C. The Series C was led by Sofinnova’s Crossover Strategy, which exemplified how much the VC industry had changed. Now you see several very large funds in Europe working together wanting to provide finance that will carry companies much farther — until approval if needed.

What was it about Sofinnova that particularly impressed you?

The new paradigm in Europe is to have these later stage funds that invest after Phase II trials, and Sofinnova Crossover is one of the leaders in this.

When we closed the Series C financing in January of 2023 at €130 million, we had enough cash to bring our lead product up to NDA filing (the U.S. FDA’s New Drug Application).

It is a key message of strength for a company to say, “I don't need anybody, I can get to the finish line by myself.” At the same time, I had never been so busy, because we looked at an IPO, commercialization of the product and even planned a commercialization structure in the US. We were ready to IPO and we were looking at other kinds of financing as well. The company could have gone until approval and even to commercialization — and that is really a very strong signal you send to the markets.

They're very good and experienced people at Sofinnova, and I really had a great relationship with Cédric Moreau, the partner in charge. Our experience with all the investors has been constructive and based on common goals and vision, a major added value for the company.

Looking at the French press on this deal, you’ve become quite the hero in the French biotech ecosystem. Do you plan on using that hero status to change things a little bit?

I'm very happy that this deal is not being portrayed as just another French company getting bought by a large foreign pharmaceutical company.

And is instead being interpreted the right way: as we should do more of these deals in France because it's going to attract investors to the French ecosystem. There are a lot of good companies and a lot of good science in France.

Although I am not sure yet what I will do next, I would love to see some of the people who are on my team now create their own companies at some point. I would be happy to help them.

I would be proud to portrayed on the “Wall of Fame” at Sofinnova, close to other CEOs like Marc de Garidel, who has achieved so much — he has been very inspiring for people like me.

What does France need to do to improve its biotech ecosystem?

What works so well in places like Boston and San Francisco is the fact that investors, entrepreneurs, and academia all work very well together. We are not there yet in France, even though there's so much good science. We should foster more of this kind of cooperation here in France.

Venture capital firms can help, as Sofinnova is doing with its Biovelocita Strategy — going very early stage is a good idea.

Do you think PhD programs or postdoc programs should teach entrepreneurship, or is it something that cannot be taught?

That's a good question, and I don't have the answer. To me, the desire to create a company is something you either have or do not have. I don't recommend it to everyone because it's not the best quality of life for you or your family. And being a founder and a CEO are usually two different things. To be a good CEO in biotech you need a bit of experience because there is such a variety of expertise involved.

So, would you advise a young, talented biotech entrepreneur to go into an existing company first and learn the ropes a bit before starting something new?

Yes, and someone young, talented, and driven can become an executive quickly in biotech, with work and passion. There's no reason he or she cannot run a drug development start-up, but my recommendation would be to have seen it at least once from the inside first.