Benjamin Charles

Biography

In 2015, together with Daniel OLIVE and Alem TRUNEH, Benjamin CHARLES cofounded ImCheck Therapeutics. Today, he is a Board Member of the Company and its Chief Business Officer, bringing 10 years of experience in Business Development and Strategy. In 2008, Benjamin CHARLES started his career in healthcare consulting and mergers & acquisitions, firstly at BNP Paribas Corporate Finance, and then at AEC Partners and Publicis Healthcare, Paris. Benjamin advised pharmaceuticals companies as well as SMEs on strategic planning, business development, market access, and medical affairs assignments. Benjamin joined Inserm Transfert in 2012 where he took responsibility for the oncology portfolio, out-licensing biomarkers and therapeutic compounds to pharmaceutical companies and startups, including in the fields of Immune-modulation and therapeutic antibodies. Benjamin holds a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences and an MBA from Essec Business School; he also is a member of the chair of bioethics and therapeutic innovation and of the chair Essec Santé.

Research Interest

In 2015, together with Daniel OLIVE and Alem TRUNEH, Benjamin CHARLES cofounded ImCheck Therapeutics. Today, he is a Board Member of the Company and its Chief Business Officer, bringing 10 years of experience in Business Development and Strategy. In 2008, Benjamin CHARLES started his career in healthcare consulting and mergers & acquisitions, firstly at BNP Paribas Corporate Finance, and then at AEC Partners and Publicis Healthcare, Paris. Benjamin advised pharmaceuticals companies as well as SMEs on strategic planning, business development, market access, and medical affairs assignments. Benjamin joined Inserm Transfert in 2012 where he took responsibility for the oncology portfolio, out-licensing biomarkers and therapeutic compounds to pharmaceutical companies and startups, including in the fields of Immune-modulation and therapeutic antibodies. Benjamin holds a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences and an MBA from Essec Business School; he also is a member of the chair of bioethics and therapeutic innovation and of the chair Essec Santé. the first on mouse models and the second on human. To conduct these works, Daniel Olive has benefited from a revolutionary technology freshly imported from the United States by François Kourilsky: monoclonal antibodies. Starting in 1985, these works resulted in the generation of the first mouse antibody against one particular T lymphocyte adhesion molecule: LFA1. Produced by Immunotech, at first, this antibody was successfully used by Alain Fischer's team to prevent bone marrow transplant rejection affecting young patients with immune deficiency and then, under the supervision of Dominique Maranichi, for patients suffering leukemia. Shortly after, Professor Jean-Paul Soulillou used this antibody in kidney-transplanted patients. Other antibodies were also designed for clinical use: Professor Didier Blaise successfully integrated the antibody against CD25 (as a part of the interleukine 2 receptor) in a clinical program against leukaemia, while the antibody against CD4 (a surface molecule found in some T lymphocyte subpopulations) was showing great potential in the fight against HIV. In 1987, Dr Olive joined what will become later the CRCM, where he is managing today the team "Immunity and Cancer". Since then, he widened its research area by exploring the signaling pathways ruling the activity of innate and adaptive cells. Thus, they have generated antibodies against number of receptors and ligands involved in these complex mechanisms. Among them, its team characterized a large panel of "checkpoint inhibitors" which could represent an opportunity to by-pass resistances to anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 antibodies. This second wave of immunotherapeutic antibodies is now developed by ImCheck Therapeutics, a spin off stemming from Pr Olive's laboratory. Beyond that, he continues to explore patient immune responses in and around their tumor. Its goal in particular is to identify new biomarkers to predict the response to these new immunotherapies. Dr. Daniel Olive serves as the Head of the first IBiSA Platform dedicated to Cancer Immunomonitoring Platform and has been a pioneer and leader in the co-signaling field since 1990. Dr. Olive is in charge of the Immunity and Cancer research team of INSERM UMR1068 of Marseille Cancer Research Center (Institut Paoli Calmettes). Dr. Olive is a Professor of Immunology at Aix Marseille University. His work is dedicated to tumor immunology with a major emphasis on innate immunity and co-signalling molecules. He has been a Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Celyad SA since April 6, 2016.