Laurent Debussche

Laurent Debussche holds French nationality. He holds a PhD of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and holds an engineering degree from AgroPariTech. He received a prize from French National Academy of Sciences in 1992 for the elucidation of Vitamin B12 biosynthetic pathway, is an author of 60+ scientific publications and was referred as a “stubborn” cancer scientist in a front-page article of 12/22/2012 New York Times issue.

Laurent Debussche has been a member of Oncology Research Management Team since 1998 and was appointed as Global Head of Molecular Oncology Research Therapeutic Area and member of Sanofi Research Leadership Team led by Dr Yong-Jun Liu on September 2016. Laurent Debussche joined Rhône-Poulenc Santé in 1987 in France as Research Lab Head in Biological Chemistry with a focus on both natural products and cloning and characterization of oncogenic proteins for screening purposes. In 1993, he moved to Oncology Research Department, taking Project Research Leadership position within Rhône-Poulenc Rorer research organization. Five years later, with the creation of Aventis, he was appointed Apoptosis Research Section Head and became a member of Oncology Research management team. In 2002, Oncology became a strategic focus for Aventis and since then and regardless several subsequent reorganizations and take-over by Sanofi in 2004, Laurent Debussche took several successive Section Head positions in the Sanofi Oncology Research organization. He contributed to and even directly led several preclinical candidate nominations as well as first-in-human and clinical projects. He has also extensive experience in the identification, due diligence, setup and management of external collaborations/alliances with academia, Biotechs and pharma. He was appointed Oncology Research Acting Head for France from October 2015 reported to Gary Nabel, Sanofi Chief Scientific Officer until his nomination as Global Head of Molecular Oncology Research Therapeutic Area.