CEO Jean-François Brepson on Scaling a CRO, and Selling to Charles River | E59 [Sponsored]

<p>Founded in 2010, the Institut Pasteur spinout PathoQuest sold to top CRO Charles River for $70M this year, a product of years of collaboration and stepwise investments.Jean‑François tells us how the exit unfolded, as well as the importance of biosafety and CMC as pharma and biotech outsource heavily and cell and gene therapies mature. We also cover how animal testing is disappearing from CMC and how France must nurture its biotech ecosystem.</p><p>---For transparency, this episode has been sponsored by PathoQuest.---</p><p>⭐️ ABOUT THE SPEAKER</p><p>Jean-François has more than 20 years of pharma leadership under his belt. Before his ten years at PathoQuest, he was a Senior Vice-President in charge of Ipsen’s GI-oncology and endocrinology franchise.He has an engineering degree and a master’s degree in Foreign Trade.</p><p>🔗 LINKS MENTIONED</p><ul><li>CRL acquires PathoQuest (2026) — <a href="https://pathoquest.com/press-release-pathoquest-to-join-charles-river-laboratories-2/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://pathoquest.com/press-release-pathoquest-to-join-charles-river-laboratories-2/</a></li><li>Werner Lanthaler | Biopharma AI, CDMO, Antibody Optimization | E48 — <a href="https://flot.bio/episode/werner-lanthaler-biopharma-ai/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://flot.bio/episode/werner-lanthaler-biopharma-ai/</a></li><li>Charles River Laboratories and PathoQuest Expand Strategic Biologics Partnership (2018) — <a href="https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-laboratories-and-pathoquest-expand-strategic" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-laboratories-and-pathoquest-expand-strategic</a></li><li>Charles River and PathoQuest validate viral safety assay (2023) — <a href="https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-and-pathoquest-announce-publication-head-head" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-and-pathoquest-announce-publication-head-head</a></li><li>Philipp Baaske, NanoTemper | Bootstrapping in Biotech | E29 — <a href="https://flot.bio/episode/philipp-baaske-nanotemper-boostrapping-biotech/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://flot.bio/episode/philipp-baaske-nanotemper-boostrapping-biotech/</a></li><li>Solexa acquisition by Illumina (2007) — <a href="https://investor.illumina.com/news/press-release-details/2006/Illumina-Signs-Definitive-Agreement-to-Acquire-Solexa/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://investor.illumina.com/news/press-release-details/2006/Illumina-Signs-Definitive-Agreement-to-Acquire-Solexa/default.aspx</a></li><li>PathoQuest US lab opens in Wayne, PA (2022) — <a href="https://pathoquest.com/pathoquest-announce-the-opening-of-its-new-u-s-facility/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://pathoquest.com/pathoquest-announce-the-opening-of-its-new-u-s-facility/</a></li><li>Thomas Ybert, DNA Script | DNA Printing &amp; Synthesis | E27 — <a href="https://flot.bio/episode/thomas-ybert-dna-script-dna-printing/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://flot.bio/episode/thomas-ybert-dna-script-dna-printing/</a></li><li>Pascal Touchon | Cell Therapy, Jeito, Kymriah | E49 — <a href="https://flot.bio/episode/pascal-touchon-jeito/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://flot.bio/episode/pascal-touchon-jeito/</a></li><li>First FDA-approved CAR-T — <a href="https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-receives-first-ever-fda-approval-car-t-cell-therapy-kymriahtm-ctl019-children-and-young-adults-b-cell-all-refractory-or-has-relapsed-least-twice" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-receives-first-ever-fda-approval-car-t-cell-therapy-kymriahtm-ctl019-children-and-young-adults-b-cell-all-refractory-or-has-rela