AC BioScience SA : Personalized therapies to fight a range of cancers

About us

AC BioScience is a start-up biotech company with an innovative vision and business model. We are dedicated to developing new therapies to fight a range of cancers.

switzerland innovation Founded by Andreas Schläpfer and Professor Christian Auclair, the company is leading a paradigm shift in cancer therapeutics. AC BioScience is headquartered at the EPFL Innovation Park near Lausanne, and celebrated its second year of existence in March 2019.

Our primary focus is on developing personalized therapies for tumoral pathologies. We have obtained patent protection for one ground-breaking cancer therapy and have filed patents for two others.

The company has a subsidiary company – AC BioTech SAS – whose offices are located in the Villejuif Bio Park near Paris, in proximity to the main French cancer research institutions. AC BioTech will serve as a liaison point and vehicle for clinical validation activities in France.

Leadership

The Management consists of an experienced and well-balanced team with complementary skill-sets.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is Andreas Schläpfer, a Swiss national, who has extensive experience in business strategy and global management. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from St. Gallen University, and has acted as an advisor to the International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/GATT). He spent more than three decades as a senior executive at the Nestlé Group (CEO in France, Russia, Thailand/Indochina) and as Global Business Head/Senior Vice President in charge of Nestlé's Infant Nutrition business. Until recently, he was Vice-Chairman of the Swiss Post and Head of the Merger & Acquisition Committee.

portait A. Schlaepfer

The Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder is Professor Christian Auclair, an eminent expert in pharmacology, molecular oncology and innate immunity. He is an Emeritus University Professor (exceptional class) and Doctor in Science (PharmD, PhD). Professor Auclair is a former Deputy Director at CNRS in the Department of Life Sciences and was subsequently Head of the Department of Biochemistry Bioengineering at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan . He co-founded the Graduate School of Oncology at the Institut Gustave Roussy and founded the Master's programme in Cancer Research. He has published more than 130 articles in the field of antitumor and antiviral pharmacology. Professor Auclair is a French national residing near Paris.

prof aculair

Our Business Development and Scientific Partnership Manager is Dr Annette Ives. She has a Ph.D in Immunology and Infections from the University of Lausanne, and in her previous capacity was a Project Manager/Research Scientist with the WHO and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) working on leishmaniasis and other neglected tropical diseases. Dr Ives has both Australian and Swiss nationality.

Annette Ives

Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board

The following world-renowned scientists and clinicians provide AC BioScience with an external scientific perspective and review of its R&D and clinical activities.

Martin Schlumberger

Martin Schlumberger is Professor of Oncology at Paris-Sud University, and chairs the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrine Oncology at the Gustave Roussy Campus in Villejuif, France. His main fields of interest are the use of radioactive isotopes in medicine and the treatment of thyroid tumors. He has published 320 original articles and 80 revue articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Patrick Couvreur

In France, Patrick Couvreur is a member of the Academy of Sciences and a Professor at the Paris-Sud University / CNRS. He is a pharmacist, specializing in medical nanotechnologies. Professor Couvreur is internationally recognized for his work in the field of vectorization of drugs for the treatment of cancer. He has been awarded numerous distinctions (Galen Award, 2009; Medal of Innovation CNRS, 2012; European Inventor Award, 2013; Host Madsen Medal, 2007), and he is the author of numerous scientific publications.

Jean-Pierre Kinet M.D.

Jean-Pierre Kinet is a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. He also works as a Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Professor Kinet is one of the most prominent immunology experts worldwide, most famous for discovering some of the genes and proteins that constitute the immunoglobulin E receptor.

Olivier Hermine

Olivier Hermine is Professor of Hematology at Paris Descartes University, and Head of the Hematology Department at the Necker Children’s Hospital, also in Paris. He is a leading expert in benign and malignant haematological diseases related to immune deficiency or abnormal proliferation of white blood cells. Professor Hermine is the author and co-author of over 365 publications in leading international scientific journals.

Marco Ciufolini

Marco Ciufolini is a Professor and Head of Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The research in his group is focused on the total synthesis of nitrogenous natural products possessing interesting structures and demonstrating useful biological activities.