December 24, 2020
Professor Thomas Baumert, founder of Alentis Therapeutics has been awarded the Mémain-Pelletier, French Academy of Science award for his ground-breaking research into understanding the pathogenesis of liver cancer.
Professor Thomas Baumert said, “It’s a great honor and a mark of recognition for my team, my colleagues and collaborators, some 50 in all. Now we are going to have to redouble our efforts, with a view to bringing our research to patients so they can truly benefit.”
“Liver cancer is the second deadliest cancer, and the numbers are increasing sharply, due in particular to metabolic diseases, obesity and alcohol,” said Prof. Thomas Baumert. “It kills 800,000 people a year worldwide. Millions of people are at risk and treatments are not very effective, especially if detection is too late.”
The role fibrosis plays in the genesis of liver cancer is devastatingly clear. This is why Alentis is developing new medicines to treat, and even reverse the effects of liver fibrosis. To date, patients have few treatment options available to them. Prof. Thomas Baumert is recognized as a world-leading authority in the field of liver disease.
Alentis CEO Roberto Iacone said, “We’re tremendously proud of Thomas and the team. His academic excellence is second to none and this award speaks for itself. Alentis is embracing the enormous responsibility of bringing effective medicine to patients.”
Prof. Baumert is the founder of Alentis, a Professor of Medicine, and heads the Inserm Research Institute for Viral and Liver Diseases at the University of Strasbourg. Moreover, he is Director of the Laboratory of Excellence HEPSYS at the University of Strasbourg, and Hepatologist at the Center for Liver and Digestive Disease at the Strasbourg University Hospital. He was a fellow at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Liver Diseases Branch at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda Maryland, and the BROAD Institute of Harvard and MIT.