Atlanpole

Is there anything specific about managing a biotech company? How have you experienced the rise and rise of Vivalis?

Creating and operating a life science company is very exciting; it's a field where you have to be both creative and pioneering. The healthcare sector is particularly satisfying in terms of the end result and the perspectives but as a CEO, you have to keep a cool head and stay on course – we're dealing with a large dose of uncertainty – but it's a marathon effort that I really enjoy!

In our sector of activity, the financial aspect is really essential because the research phase can take a long, long time - 8 to 10 years... In fact, biotech is all about opening up new routes: we operate in 10-year cycles during which you have to keep the researchers working in the absence of any revenues and with technology validation costs that are far higher than in other sectors. Small businesses like ours are faced with big company problems! The venture capitalists are very choosy and there are few biotech-savvy stock market investors – most are in London and Switzerland, although we're now starting to find a few well-informed people in Paris.

 

 

The main thing is to attract top people, keep them and make them work together effectively over the long term. In biotech, it is very rare to find someone who combines management skills with a high level of scientific expertise. In the case of Vivalis and with the arrival of Majid Mehtali as our CSO, we've been lucky in that respect and that's not so frequent! We work well together, which explains part of the company's success. As Joseph Grimaud says, "attracting good employees means recruiting people who are more intelligent that you are"…  I hope I can say the same in a few years' time!

Our parent company's financial solidity helped me to attract good-caliber staff and involve them in a rapidly changing project with resources and a good outlook. To ensure than a team of people commits to a project, it is essential to actually do what you've said you are going to do. Keeping promises, with a clear message on our view of an ethical future, is what management credibility is all about. Our business model (vaccine production) has been easy to explain. Our twenty or so license agreements with major industry players, as well as backup from Groupe Grimaud, have also reassured customers.

 

Since the outset, our corporate histoire has been marked by the support we've received from our very successful parent company: this has guided our decisions and modulated our strategy. Our frame of mind is a little out of the ordinary in biotech because we manage the firm like an industrial concern. Above all, this explains the confidence placed in us by the group's top management during the early days, the tricky periods, the crises,...

Another crucial step was Majid's arrival in 2003 – the company moved up a gear in terms of rhythm, professionalism and results. 2003 was also a key year for other reasons, with signature of our first major license agreements with Sanofi Pasteur and Mérial.

Then, in 2005, our organization scaled up by moving out of Nantes University Medical Center and into our own lab space. In addition to having in-house research facilities, this also gave us our own industrial tool for manufacturing clinical batches. Of course, 2007 will remain a great year, with our €29 million IPO!