Nathalie Maubon is the founder and president of HCS Pharma, a French biotech leading the development of new biological models for research and testing.
Before founding HCS Pharma in 2014, Maubon spent 10 years at Fournier Laboratories, where she specialized in the development and automation of models for high-throughput screening. In this exclusive interview with Pharma IQ, she tells us why drug discovery needs to change and how HCS is set to transform biotechnology.
Pharma IQ: How has the pharmaceutical sector evolved over the course of your career?
Nathalie Maubon: When I worked at Fournier Laboratories, the company underwent several reorganizations due to takeovers by Belgian chemical company Solvay and later US firm Abbott. During these reorganizations there were brainstorming sessions on how to find new treatments more efficiently.
I learnt a lot during this time, including a new phenotypic screening process called high-content screening, which seemed more effective at finding new drugs than target-based screening in high throughput.
Since nature knows best, natural products such as antibodies, miRNAs, peptides and proteins called biologicals or biologics are more efficient, more specific and, therefore, lead to less adverse effects than small molecules. They do have several drawbacks like permeability, pharmacokinetics and price.
These factors have had a big impact on the pharmaceutical industry, from the early drug discovery process through to production.
I implemented the new phenotypic screening process at Fournier Laboratories and under Abbott we made the shift from 100 percent high-throughput to 100 percent high-content screening in drug discovery. Nevertheless, cellular models used for high-content screening were still very simple at this stage.
Pharma IQ: Why did you decide to create HCS Pharma?
NM: In 2014 I founded HCS Pharma with the goal of continuing to improve early drug discovery by finding new and more efficient treatments against complex diseases. We would do this by recreating the full complexity of a diseased tissue or organ.
To reach this goal we implemented a breakthrough technology called BIOMIMESYS, which enables us to recreate in 3D the right organ-specific pathological environment for the cells.
When we implement the cells in the proper environment, called the extra-cellular matrix (ECM), we can recreate miniaturized healthy or pathological organs or tissues. Then we can test libraries of compounds or biologicals in a more complex and relevant 3D cellular model. Physiologically-relevant 3D cellular models represent the future of drug testing.
Pharma IQ: What excites you about your organization?
NM: I founded HCS Pharma to change the drug discovery process with breakthrough technologies and to be part of the biotechnology revolution. We have an amazing team with a great team spirit, with innovation and collaboration at the heart of our R&D work.
Our objective is to cure patients who have complex and still incurable diseases like cancers and neurodegenerative conditions. This is what excites me about our organization: our goal is to find treatments for these illnesses.
Pharma IQ: How are cell and gene therapies transforming drug discovery?
NM: During the last 10 years, biologicals are being increasingly used to find new treatments. CRISPR-CAS9 for genetic engineering and iPSCs for cell engineering are two breakthrough technologies.
With the success in immune-oncology of CAR-T cells, more and more start-ups have been founded to develop new gene and cell therapies. The goal of CAR-T cell therapy is to replace defective cells with new ones such as stem cells. These new therapies are still in their early stages but are very promising.
The third breakthrough technology, BIOMIMESYS, allows us to recreate in-vitro organs based on patient cells for organ transplantation.
Pharma IQ: What advice would you give to leaders who wish to make an impact in the pharma sector?
NM: Leaders need to have empathy, team spirit and the will to innovate in the early stages of the drug discovery process. At a start-up everyone must be versatile and dare to step out of their comfort zone.
Leaders must know how to lead a project, coach their teams, delegate and build trust by listening to everyone’s ideas.
Pharma IQ: What are the biggest challenges leaders face in your industry?
NM: Productivity in terms of finding new effective treatments has never been so low. There is a need to change the whole process, with more predictive in-vitro models to better predict the success of a drug in later clinical trials.
At the moment, only one out of nine drugs entering the clinical trial phase goes to market. This is the only industry where such a low success rate is acceptable.
There has been 20 years of low productivity and loss of patent. Investors in new drugs are very often disappointed and are increasingly withdrawing from financing biotech start-ups.
The pharmaceutical industry is facing increasing mistrust from consumers, following a number of scandals and the recent Covid-19 anti-vaccine debate. This is something the industry should care more about.
The pharma sector also needs to consider that with new breakthrough technologies, the implementation of biologicals and new gene and cell therapies, regulation needs to change and that will take time.
Pharma IQ: What would you like to achieve by being a Pharma IQ advisory board member?
NM: We are at a turning point in biotechnology. Breakthrough technologies are now sufficiently mature to be used to find new treatments, replace deficient cells and in the future recreate organs from patient cells.
With new tools like deep/machine learning, artificial intelligence, connected objects and virtual and augmented reality, the health and wellbeing of humans will evolve in the near future.
The pharmaceutical industry must also change in the next 10 years. The pandemic situation quickly changed mentalities, but I think this is only the beginning of a biotech revolution, and I want to be part of it.
I joined Pharma IQ’s advisory board to be in a group of experts to discuss these evolutions and brainstorm them. I hope to be able to continue learning from our exchanges, develop my network and be an agent of change in the field of biotechnology.
Pharma IQ: How do you enjoy spending time outside of work?
NM: I like meeting people from different countries and cultures, and talking to them to better understand their way of life. As for hobbies, I love being in the water. I do a lot of swimming and scuba diving. I also like to walk in nature and travel.
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