Inotrem has named Sven Zimmermann as CEO. Zimmermann joins the inflammatory disease biotech after overseeing a series of exits at former employers including Novimmune’s asset sale to Sobi and Auris Medical’s IPO.
Paris-based Inotrem is developing an inflammatory syndrome pipeline led by a TREM-1 inhibitor that is in clinical trials as a treatment for septic shock and acute myocardial infarction. Jean-Jacques Garaud, M.D., the former head of pharma research and early development at Roche, founded the biotech and served as its CEO over the past six years.
Now, Garaud is transitioning to the post of executive vice president and head of scientific and medical affairs, leaving the CEO position free for Zimmermann to take up next month. The appointment is the first time Zimmermann has occupied the CEO role.
Zimmermann started out as an equity analyst at UBS before taking up the chief financial officer position at PregLem. In 2010, Gedeon Richter struck a deal to acquire PregLem. That was the first of several times a biotech secured an exit or sold assets while Zimmermann was in the CFO chair.
At Auris Medical, Zimmermann held the CFO position during a period in which it went public on Nasdaq. Zimmermann left Auris to take the CFO job at Novimmune, where he was involved in the sale of immunology R&D capabilities and IFNγ inhibitor emapalumab to Sobi.
In 2019, shortly after news of the Sobi deal emerged, Zimmermann left Novimmune to become CFO at MetrioPharm. Zimmermann spent around 20 months at MetrioPharm and, despite discussing the prospect of an IPO at the time of his appointment, never executed the sorts of transactions that defined his spells at other biotechs.
The replacement of Garaud with Zimmermann marks a shift for Inotrem. Garaud spent his career in pharma R&D, holding positions of increasing responsibility at Schering-Plough, Novartis and Roche. In contrast, Zimmermann, while holding a Ph.D. in molecular biology, has spent his career on the financial side of the industry.
Inotrem made the leadership change as it closes in on late-phase development. Lead candidate nangibotide is in a 450-subject septic shock phase 2b study as well as a phase 2 in severe COVID-19 patients. Inotrem closed a €44 million ($52 million) series B round early last year but, with midphase clinical trials nearing completion, could need to access additional capital down the line.