Pressmeddelande

FRANCESCO HOFMANN IS APPOINTED HEAD OF R&D AT PIERRE FABRE MEDICAL CARE

15. juli 2021

Castres, July 9th, 2021 – The Pierre Fabre Group has appointed Dr Francesco Hofmann to lead Research & Development for its Medical Care activities. Reporting to Jean-Luc Lowinski, Medical Care Busines Unit CEO, Francesco Hofmann will oversee the Group’s innovation strategy for pharmaceuticals (oncology, dermatology, rare diseases, health care) with the objective to serve Pierre Fabre’s purpose : “every time we care for a single person, we make the world better”.   

Castres, July 9th, 2021 – The Pierre Fabre Group has appointed Dr Francesco Hofmann to lead Research & Development for its Medical Care activities. Reporting to Jean-Luc Lowinski, Medical Care Busines Unit CEO, Francesco Hofmann will oversee the Group’s innovation strategy for pharmaceuticals (oncology, dermatology, rare diseases, health care) with the objective to serve Pierre Fabre’s purpose : “every time we care for a single person, we make the world better”.   

Francesco Hofmann earned a PhD in biochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. In 1993, he started his professional career at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) where he performed experimental research to understand the underlying molecular mechanism driving the uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells. 

In 1997, Francesco Hofmann joined Novartis, where he held several management positions focusing on the discovery and development of new cancer treatments. In 2005, he became a member of the Oncology Leadership Team, a Novartis division which oversees the discovery of drugs, translational research, data science and early clinical development. 

Before joining the Pierre Fabre Group, Francesco Hofmann had been working since 2017 as Global Head of Oncology Drug Discovery for Novartis. In this leadership role based in Basel (Switzerland) and Cambridge (USA), he coordinated the discovery and progression into clinical development of no less than twelve new cancer drugs, including recently approved medicines alpelisib and infigratinib. 

At Pierre Fabre, Francesco Hofmann will lead an organization made up of multidisciplinary teams based primarily in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, near Geneva, and the Oncopole campus in Toulouse, where the Group’s two innovation centers are located. 

Francesco Hofmann’s primary mission will be to accelerate the delivery of new therapeutics to develop the Group’s R&D portfolio in pharmaceuticals, through a combination of in-house projects and external partnership opportunities. These opportunities may take the form of acquisitions or licensing agreements, along the lines of the collaborative models set up since the start of 2021 with the biotech companies Y-Biologics (South Korea) and ValenzaBio (USA).

 

About Pierre Fabre

Pierre Fabre is the 2nd largest dermo-cosmetics laboratory in the world, the 2nd largest private French pharmaceutical group and the market leader in France for products sold over the counter in pharmacies. Its portfolio ranges across several medical franchises and international brands, including Pierre Fabre Oncology, Pierre Fabre Dermatology, Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, Ducray, René Furterer, A-Derma, Naturactive and Pierre Fabre Oral Care

In 2020, Pierre Fabre generated €2.3 billion in revenues, 65% of which came from international sales. 

Established in the South-West area of France since its creation, and manufacturing over 95% of its products in France, the Group employs some 10,000 people worldwide. Its products are distributed in about 130 countries. 

Pierre Fabre is 86%-owned by the Pierre Fabre Foundation, a government-recognised public-interest foundation, and secondarily by its own employees through an international employee stock ownership plan.

In 2020, Ecocert Environment assessed the Group’s corporate social and environmental responsibility approach in accordance with the ISO 26000 sustainable development standard for the 2nd consecutive year and confirmed its “Excellence” level. 

For further information, please visit the Pierre Fabre website at www.pierre-fabre.com 

@PierreFabre.

Contact :

Anne Kerveillant

+33 (0)1 49 10 81 60 / +33 (0)6 20 88 54 57

anne.kerveillant@pierre-fabre.com

 

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