Shanghai, China, October 12th, 2021 - Henlius (2696.HK) announced the appointment of Dr. Jean-Michel Gries as the president of its affiliation Hengenix Biotech, Inc., based in CA, United States. Dr. Gries will direct Hengenix day-to-day operation and oversee Henlius global research function, reporting to Mr. Wenjie Zhang, Henlius' Executive Director, Chief Executive Officer and President. With Dr. Gries's significant global expertise, the company's scientific innovation, dedication to patients, and global resources network will further thrive.
Dr. Gries has over 20 years of professional and managerial experience in clinical pharmacology and early research, with robust knowledge of a broad set of disease areas. He also has successful experience in operation management, licensing, and R&D strategy design. Before joining Henlius, Dr. Gries has served as the director of Clinical Pharmacology at Aventis (now SANOFI), the head of Clinical Pharmacology at Roche US, VP, CSO&CMO at Paramount Biosciences, the head of R&D at ALCON/Novartis, the General Manager of Early Clinical Development at Covance, and General Manager of Early Phase at Parexel, and the Chief R&D Officer at Kodikaz Therapeutic Solutions. Dr. Gries has a PharmD and a PhD in Pharmacokinetic from Rene Descartes University in Paris, a PhD in Analytical Chemistry, and a Master in Statistics from Paris-Sud University (Paris XI). He also obtained his MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
"We're delighted to welcome Dr. Gries to join Henlius as president of Hengenix. Given his exceptional accomplishments in the fields, I'm confident he will make significant contributions to our drug discovery efforts," Mr. Wenjie Zhang said. "Underpinned by the patient-centric strategy, Henlius stays committed to pursuing our vision to address the unmet needs by accelerating reliable quality and affordable innovation. Over the past 10 years, we have built a diversified pipeline of innovative drug candidates. We will strive to become the most trusted innovative biopharmaceutical company in the world. "
"I am very excited to be joining Henlius at the beginning of what I think is a major inflection point for the company. I am looking forward to building the international team and drive research innovation to the next level, " said Dr. Gries, "Henlius is perfectly positioned to deliver innovative products against patients' unmet medical needs."