About Us

Elikya Therapeutics, a Landmark BioVentures nexus company, is developing next-gen ADCs leveraging innovative first-in-class toxic payload technology with a unique mode of action, targeting the tumor and its microenvironment, and capable of circumventing resistance mechanisms

Innovating ADCs and Setting the Standard for the Future of Oncology Therapies

Elikya Therapeutics is a spin-off of the University Paris Saclay and the Gustave Roussy Institute co-founded with renowned scientific expert KOLs in medicinal chemistry and immuno-oncology

Strategically located in the Quest for Health (SEMIA) incubator in Strasbourg, France, with direct access to leading researchers and innovators, business and scientific resources, and an active ecosystem of entrepreneurs and drug developers as a Landmark Bioventures nexus company

Our Technology

our team

A Diversified and Experienced Founding Team

Through its academic founders, Elikya Therapeutics is leveraging more than 15 years of world recognized research

The team is also composed of a seasoned team of biotech industrials with more than 35 years of experience in the biotech and pharma industry

Executive Team

Zaki SELLAM
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

Zaki Sellam is an experienced C-level biotech executive, with over two decades of experience and leadership in cancer/immunology drug discovery, translational medicine, clinical development, biotech startups, and fostering strategic alliances between prominent pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. Mr. Sellam has raised approximately $100 million in equity financing in this sector. In addition to his role as CEO of Landmark BioVentures AG, he also serves as Executive Chairman to each of LBV Nexus companies.

Previously, Mr. Sellam was Founder and CEO of Avicenna Oncology GmbH, an Antibody Drug Conjugate start up located in Basel (2014-2019). Mr. Sellam also advises start-up companies, (including Iome Bio, Harvard spin off), Tech Transfer Accelerators and pharma companies (including OM Pharma) through his strategic consulting firm ESN Life Sciences GmbH (2011-present).

Mr. Sellam earned an MS in Biotechnology Engineering from the National School of Biotechnology in Bordeaux, France (2002) and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Poitiers, France (2007).

Gary BRANDAM
Co-Founder & CEO

Gary Brandam is a biotech entrepreneur and experienced C-level biotech executive with over 15 years of experience in drug development, product launch, corporate strategy, and startup company build-up in the areas of oncology, rare diseases, and gene therapies. In addition to his role as COO of Landmark BioVentures AG, he also serves as advisor to each of LBV Nexus companies and CEO of both Elikya Therapeutics and Massalia Therapeutics.

Previously, he was a manager at Blue Matter Consulting (2015-2023) where he advised several global pharmaceutical companies launching their oncology and/or rare disease products in the US, Europe, and other markets worldwide. Mr. Brandam served as project lead within Avicenna Oncology GmbH, an Antibody Drug Conjugate start-up located in Basel (2015-2017).

Mr. Brandam earned an MS in Biotechnology Engineering from the National School of Biotechnology in Bordeaux, France (2011).

Jacques BAUER
CSO

Jacques Bauer is an experienced C-level biotech executive with over 35 years of experience and leadership in the pharmaceutical industry. He has held positions including Head of Research, Head of Research & Development and Head of Intellectual Property at several companies including Laboratoires OM (1985-1995), OM Pharma (1995-2009), Galenica (2009-2012), and Vifor Pharma (2012-2020).

Dr. Bauer is Founder and CEO of Inventuri Development (2021-present), a consultancy company advising on intellectual property and technical support issues in the life sciences and medicinal chemistry industries, located in Saint-Prex, Switzerland. In addition to his role as CDSO of Landmark BioVentures AG, he also serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Elikya Therapeutics and Duhn Therapeutics.

His professional achievements in medicinal chemistry include the successful development of small innovative first in class synthetic drugs from discovery to clinical level, and leading the development and industrial scaling-up of biologicals to market. Dr. Bauer’s project management experience encompasses matters related to intellectual property, chemistry, preclinical sciences, pharmacokinetics and early clinical stages in cancer and immunology.

Dr. Bauer earned an MS in Biology from University of Lausanne (1980) and a PhD in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of Lausanne (2001). Additionally, Dr. Bauer received intellectual property and industrial property law training from Centre Paul Roubier (2006).

Board of Directors

Sébastien APCHER
Co-Founder

Dr. Sébastien Apcher is Research Director of Gustave Roussy Institute, a position he has held since 2013 shortly after winning the ATIP/Avenir program in 2012. He currently leads a research team within the U1015 unit headed by Prof. Laurence Zitvogel, where project aims are to identify and clarify the role of early antigenic peptides in anticancer immune response.

Dr. Apcher was the 2017 winner of the “Cancer” prize awarded by the French Academy of Medicine. One of his projects was supported by a SATT Paris-Saclay maturation program. Since 2014, Dr. Apcher has been a reviewer for various international journals such as Oncotarget, OncoImmunology, Cell Death and Differentiation, Frontier in Immunology, Cellular Immunology, and Communications Biology. He is also on the editorial board of the World Journal of Virology and Frontier in Immunology. Dr. Apcher has published 36 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and has filed 4 international patents. His h-index is 16, with over 1,000 citations to his different papers.

He is a biochemist by training, a graduate of the Université Blaise Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand) and the University of Nottingham (England), where he obtained his doctorate in 2003. He was previously at Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, in Dr. Robin Fahraeus’ ATIP/Avenir team for four years during his post-doctoral fellowship. Dr. Apcher further completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia (USA).

Mouad ALAMI
Co-Founder

Dr. Mouad Alami is Director of Research at the CNRS and head of UMR CNRS 8076 “Biomolecules, Conception, Isolation and Synthesis” (BioCIS), based at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Paris-Saclay (Orsay).

Trained as an organic chemist, he is a specialist in synthesis methodology and medicinal chemistry. From 2002-2019, he led the “Conception et Synthèse de Molécules d’Intérêt Thérapeutique (CoSMIT)” team, one of the five teams at UMR BioCIS, whose average size is around twenty. Its research has led to the publication of 265 articles and book chapters, and the filing of 18 patents (12 patent applications in the last ten years), 7 of which are licensed. A few statistics from the ISI Web of Science database credit his work with over 8100 citations and an h-index of 50. He was awarded the prime d’excellence scientifique during the periods 2010-13, 2014-17 and 2020-23 for high levels of scientific activity. His CoSMIT team has been awarded the “Équipe Labellisée Ligue contre Le Cancer” national label and three maturation programs at SATT Paris-Saclay, with support for a preclinical development phase.

Dr. Alami has been appointed as an expert to the Conseil Scientifique Inter Régional Ligue contre le cancer (2018-present), and also as a member of the Académie Nationale de Pharmacie (since 2019). He is co-founder of 3 startups AdPueriVitam (treatment of pediatric epilepsy), ALSYMO (treatment pulmonary arterial hypertension) and Elikya Therapeutics.

Christophe JAVAUD
Observer

Dr. Christphe Javaud is Head of Technology Transfer Office at Gustave Roussy Transfer. With 20+ years experience at various executive levels, strong experience in people management and company governance, he has been involved in multiple licensing deals and strategic alliances with top biotech/pharma companies. Dr. Javaud has also led the creation of 8 startups since 2018. He was also the Founder and Chairman of Glycode, an innovative startup specialized in yeast engineering for producing high quality biopharmaceuticals.

Dr. Javaud received his PhD in Biology-Sciences-Health and Executive MBA (HEC school of management, Paris, France).

Advisory Board

Gilles PAGÈS
Scientific Advisor

Dr. Gilles Pagès is Senior Research Director at INSERM, a role in which he has headed an INSERM team for over 20 years. He is also a Consultant for the Centre Scientifique de Monaco. In addition, Dr. Pagès serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of INSERM and is an Honorary President of the French Angiogenesis Society, which he chaired for 4 years.

Dr. Pagès has received several awards (Pink Ribbon Award, Prince Albert I (National Academy of Medicine of Monaco, Amgen Innovation Award). From 2016-2021, he was an elected member of the INSERM National Committee dedicated to cancer and genetic pathologies (CSS2). Previously, he was also member of the board of the European Vascular Biology Organization.

He is a tumor angiogenesis expert with over 170 published articles and an H-factor of 60, filed 10 patents and participated in three clinical trials. From 2016-2021, Dr. Pagès’ team published 61 articles, which has been cited more than 600 times. The team’s work has also led to the creation of two startups; Roca Therapeutics, a member of the PACA incubator, led by Dr. Maeva Dufies and co-founded by Landmark BioVentures. Roca Therapeutics was an i-Lab prizewinner in 2021 and raised its first round of funding with venture capitalist 3B Future Health Fund.

Alexandre DETAPPE
Scientific Advisor

Dr. Alexandre Detappe is Professor of Medicine at the Institut de Cancérologie Strasbourg Europe (ICANS), a position he’s held since 2019. Research in the ICANS nanotranslation laboratory focuses on the combination of polymer engineering, synthetic chemistry, immunonanotherapy and bioengineering of novel nanomaterials for biomedical applications. The main areas of application are drug delivery, development of new imaging biomarkers and optimization of biofunctionalization and bioconjugation of nanocarriers and antibodies to enhance their specificity and activate the immune system.

Dr. Detappe obtained his PhD in nanomedicine applied to medical physics at the University of Lyon/Harvard Medical School in 2017 under the supervision of Professor Olivier Tillement and Professor Ross Berbeco. He trained as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with Professor Irene Ghobrial and Professor Peter Ghoroghchian in nanomedicine applied to multiple myeloma.

Samson FUNG
Scientific Advisor

Dr. Samson Fung is an experienced clinical MD and C-level biotech executive, with over 30 years of experience and leadership in oncology/immunology, clinical development, translational medicine, regulatory affairs (FDA and EMA) and advising biotechs in startup/advanced stages. Dr. Fung is Founder/Chief Medical Officer of Susavox Investments GmbH (2018-present) and was previously Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Volvox Therapeutics GmbH (2013-2018); both are oncology biotech startup companies based in Munich and Cambridge, Massachusetts. As Chief Medical Officer of Landmark BioVentures AG, he provides clinical development and clinical strategy leadership and trial oversight to each of LBV nexus companies.

Dr. Fung is Chief Medical Officer/Board Member at Molecure SA, Warsaw, Poland (WSE: MOC) (2022-present). Since 2008, Dr. Fung has advised companies such as Micromet, Roche, Novartis, Pharmacia/Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Iome (affiliated with Harvard Medical School), and organizations such as Inhatarget SA in Belgium, BioM (Munich), and Simbec-Orion (based in UK and France), where he is also Member of the Scientific Advisory Board. He has been involved in more than 20 due diligence projects leading to in-/out-licensing of compounds in early and late-stage development.

Dr. Fung earned an MD from the University of Freiburg, Germany (1984) and Board Certification in internal medicine with sub-specialization in oncology and hematology (1992). He spent more than 8 years in academic teaching hospitals practicing general internal medicine, gastroenterology, nephrology and hemato-and medical oncology.