Florence Séjourné
Da Volterra is a French biotech company that develops innovative products to protect the intestinal microbiota from the deleterious effects of drugs, and in particular antibiotics, to respond to growing unmet medical needs in the fields of infectiology, gastroenterology, oncology and hemato-oncology. Da Volterra was created by Professor Antoine Andremont (AP-HP Hopital Bichat/University of Paris-Diderot) based on concepts originating from his work on the impact of antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota and antibiotic resistance. Da Volterra’s most advanced product, DAV132, is a first-in-class oral phase 3 ready-product designed to capture antibiotic residues in the gut and abrogate their harmful impact on the microbiota. DAV132 is developed in several indications associated to the preservation of a healthy microbiota, including the prevention of C. difficile infections and resistant bacteria colonization in patients at risk, starting with patients with hematologic malignancies. By protecting the intestinal microbiota of patients, DAV132 could also bring significant benefits to patients with cancer and receiving antibiotics by preserving the efficacy of their treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
In addition to her activities at Da Volterra, Florence has been contributing to various groups focused on defining creative business models and incentives to face the economic issues of innovation in bacterial infections. She founded and has been the President of the BEAM Alliance from 2016, which represents approx. 70 European biotech companies involved in developing innovative products to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Prior to joining Da Volterra in 2008, Florence co-founded GENFIT (GNFT), European biotech company in the field of metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Florence holds degrees in biotechnology from MINES Paritech, in Paris, France and in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Illinois, Chicago.