Innate Pharma picks AstraZeneca’s oncology specialist Mondher Mahjoubi

Innate Pharma picks AstraZeneca’s oncology specialist Mondher Mahjoubi

December 19, 2016 Off By Dino Mustafić

Innate Pharma has announced key leadership team and Board changes which will take effect on December 30th, 2016.

These changes will include the appointment of Mondher Mahjoubi as Chairman of Innate Pharma`s Executive Board, succeeding Hervé Brailly who becomes Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Dr Mahjoubi, MD is currently Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head-Oncology, Global Product and Portfolio Strategy, at AstraZeneca. He has been instrumental in driving the oncology strategy at AstraZeneca and beforehand at Genentech. Dr Mahjoubi is a medical oncologist trained at Institut Gustave Roussy (Paris-Villejuif). During his carier her worked for Aventis, Sanofi, Roche-Genentech, and AstraZeneca.

Dr Hervé Brailly, PhD, who co-founded Innate Pharma 17 years ago, joins the Supervisory Board and will become its Chairman, succeeding Gilles Brisson who is stepping down after nine years in that position, and remains on the Board. Dr Philippe Pouletty, the longest serving member of the Board, will resign from the Board.

As part of the governance changes, Laure-Hélène Mercier has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer. She was previously EVP, Finance, in charge of financial operations and, before that, Head of Investor Relations. Catherine Moukheibir, who has played a critical role as Senior Advisor for financial strategy, is leaving the Executive Board but will maintain her close links with the Company in an advisory position.

Hervé Brailly wished that a new President of the Executive Board be appointed to take the Company to the next level. Since founding Innate Pharma, Hervé Brailly has overseen its development into one of Europe`s pre-eminent immuno-oncology companies, with three clinical-stage antibody candidates and a broad preclinical pipeline. The appointment of Mondher Mahjoubi and the additional governance changes are designed to support the Company`s evolution as it advances its key programs towards late-stage development. Mondher Mahjoubi`s strategic oversight, clinical expertise and commercial experience will prove invaluable to Innate Pharma as it lays the foundation to become a fully-integrated immuno-oncology company.

Commenting on his appointment as Chairman of Innate Pharma`s Executive Board, Mondher Mahjoubi said: “This is a really great opportunity for me to be joining Innate Pharma as Chairman of the Executive Board. Immuno-oncology is transforming in depth the way we can treat cancer patients. Building on a unique and differentiated expertise in innate immunity, Innate Pharma has been a pioneer in immuno-oncology. The team has demonstrated its impressive ability to deliver in research, discovery and exploratory development, and the Company has now reached a key inflection point to emerge as a major player for the second wave of immuno-oncology agents. I look forward to working closely with Hervé Brailly, the Board and the team as we build Innate Pharma into a global, fully-integrated company, working in the best interests of patients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.”