Cancer care pioneeer

Dr Bertrand Ducrey started his career as a research scientist at Debiopharm nearly 30 years ago, but now as CEO, has lost none of the excitement he feels every day about working for a company with a growing track record in delivering breakthrough cancer treatments that have saved so many lives.

“The impact our drugs are having for patients worldwide has always been the best possible driver for me,” he tells The CEO Magazine from his office in Lausanne, Switzerland. “We have a shared vision to make the scientific breakthroughs that will help people suffering with cancer to live better and longer lives.”

The pioneering biopharmaceutical business was formed in 1979 by a doctor of pharmacy, Rolland Yves Mauvernay, to transform what he saw as inefficient and compartmentalized cancer research practices. It’s since been responsible for some of the most significant new treatments of the past 40 years.

“Most of the pharma companies back then were in silos, doing their own research, working only on their own assets, not connecting with academics and the wider startup biotech ecosystem,” Ducrey says.

By embracing collaboration and openness, Debiopharm was able to bring two blockbuster products to market. Oxaliplatin is a revolutionary treatment for colorectal and other cancers, which fights cancer cells by blocking the duplication of DNA. The other, triptorelin, is a prostate cancer medication also used to prevent premature sexual characteristics in children diagnosed with central precocious puberty.

Between them, the drugs have helped millions of patients and generated the funds needed for Debiopharm to conduct further research that is yielding a series of other game-changing drugs.

Additional collaborative advances include a recent licensing deal with ITM Isotope Technologies, a leading radiopharmaceutical biotech company from Munich, Germany. This new partnership, announced in September 2024, grants ITM exclusive global development and commercialization rights to Debiopharm’s first-in-class, peptide-based radiopharmaceutical theranostic pair, Debio 0328 and Debio 0228.

“Curing patients is our mission. Through this agreement with ITM, we hope to bring breakthrough solutions to patients living with hard-to-treat cancer types,” Ducrey explains. “Debio 0328’s outstanding potential as a standalone imaging agent has also boosted our confidence for the upcoming evaluation of Debio 0228, the therapeutic agent.”

High reward, high risk

There’s no doubt that pharma is a high-reward, but high-risk business.

“The risk is worth it, if we can bring new treatments that help patients overcome their disease,” Ducrey says.

Research to develop a new drug costs over US$1 billion – even more sobering is the fact that more than 90 percent fail to meet the requirements needed to reach the market in the first place.

“That means that we need to find innovative and effective ways to identify and develop promising drugs,” he explains.

Debiopharm’s unique international business model relies on global collaboration to advance molecules into medicines. It currently has 16 ongoing trials in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. It has also recently brought three compounds into Phase III trials.

Its cancer drug development falls within four primary axes of research: antibody drug conjugates, DNA damage repair, radioligands and mRNA. Ducrey says he is always on the lookout for pharmaceutical partners to accelerate drug development and reach patients around the world.

“We lead research in a wide variety of hard-to-treat cancer types including brain cancer, gynecological cancers, kidney cancer, lung cancer and blood cancers,” he adds.

“We have also launched research into a new antibiotic class that is pathogen-specific for the treatment of resistant bacterial infections caused by staph and gonorrhea. We hope that this new class will become an efficient tool against antimicrobial resistance.”

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“We are excited to partner with Debiopharm as our collaboration brought the first PKMYT1 and WEE1 inhibitor combination to the clinic in April 2024. The compelling mechanistic rationale, tumor regressions observed preclinically and clinical safety profiles of lunresertib and Debio 0123 give us confidence in this synergistic combination’s potential to deliver transformative benefits to patients with advanced cancer.” – Lloyd M Segal, President and CEO, Repare Therapeutics

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Such proactive collaboration has been key to Ducrey’s approach since he joined Biopharm in 1995 as a formulation scientist investigating ways to scale triptorelin to industrial volumes. He worked his way up and ran the firm’s world-renowned production facility in Martigny for seven years, improving the efficacy of triptorelin with sustained-release formulas and setting up a medical chemistry research laboratory to study small molecules and peptide linkers.

He was appointed CEO of Debiopharm in 2012 and subsequently took on the additional role of Senior Vice President for the group’s life sciences and its strategic investment fund.

Making connections

Ducrey’s leadership has been characterized by an even greater focus on transparency and fostering meaningful connections both internally and externally.

“Our Founder always said, ‘The world is our laboratory,’ and that we need to make connections within it,” he recalls. “So it’s not important to know everything ourselves, it’s important to know the people who know. We work with many very clever people who harness these ideas and bring them together. I love the fact that I’m always learning, learning, learning, and that will never stop.

“It helps to build trust and form close relationships. I enjoy just sitting and listening to many different viewpoints. I like to go running with my teams, go to restaurants and take time to hear their opinions.

“It’s always been important for me to create a collaborative atmosphere so I take every opportunity to get to know them. We’re not a big company – maybe 450 employees – and I think I know them pretty well. I know their names and I know what they do.”

Ducrey’s infectious enthusiasm has also helped Debiopharm’s relationships with key partners such as leading oncology research company Repare Therapeutics, which has also developed highly-targeted cancer therapies, some of them focused on DNA damage repair.

“I’m always inspired when I sit down with scientists and academics to discuss disruptive concepts that will achieve our common goals. I find that so refreshing,” he says.

“And we have a shared vision to make scientific breakthroughs that will help cancer sufferers. We meet the people who take our drugs and love hearing their experiences and feedback.

“This is a very fulfilling and rewarding place to work.”