Repurposing, Repositioning and the Route to Market
October 2007
Repurposing, Repositioning and the Route to Market
Interview with Thomas Seoh
Repurposing, Repositioning and the Route to Market
In this week’s exclusive interview, live from Geneva, Fintan Walton talks to Thomas Seoh, CEO of France’s Faust Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on CNS disorders. Thomas starts by giving some company background, then talks about the way that Faust focuses on three types of compound – repurposed, repositioned and NCE – and about how the company’s strategy is to raise capital from the first two types to fund the third. The discussion covers the company’s two key compounds and recent issues surrounding their development. In particular, Thomas explains how the company’s strategy around its lead Parkinson’s disease compound, FP0011, has changed following the receipt of an unexpected preclinical safety signal, and how Faust is now seeking funding and a partner to take the compound through to Phase IIb and beyond.
About Thomas Seoh
Thomas Seoh has been CEO of Faust Pharmaceuticals since 2006. Before that, he worked at Guilford Pharmaceuticals as Senior Vice President, Corporate and Commercial Development. In this role, he participated in the raising of approximately US$400 M in the capital markets and through corporate partnering transactions; he also led deals in a business or legal capacity with Merck, Pfizer, Aventis, Amgen, Johns Hopkins University, MIT and others, involving assets ranging from research and preclinical stages through to marketed products.
About Faust Pharmaceuticals
Faust Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2001 by a group of French scientists. It has a focus on the discovery and development of new treatments for neurological disorders based on technology that came out of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). It has several compounds in development, including its two lead compounds for Parkinson’s disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy; the first of these is repurposed and the second is repositioned. Faust has undergone a number of funding rounds and is currently looking to partner its Parkinson’s drug candidate.
