Management Team

Thomas Kuhn, PharmD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Thomas Kuhn began his career with Merck KGaA in 2000 where he held various positions in clinical development, mainly in the therapeutic area of Type 2 diabetes and was responsible, in particular, for forging partnerships with Japanese pharmaceutical companies. Between 2004 and 2007, he directed Merck’s global R&D projects with two products in Phase 2 clinical trials and all the life cycle management projects primarily for Glucophage®, the current reference in diabetes treatment. Following Merck’s acquisition of Serono in 2007, Thomas Kuhn was part of the team which refined Merck Serono’s strategy for divesting from the diabetes therapeutic area. Thomas Kuhn initiated and concluded the project for the transfer of Merck Serono’s assets under development in Diabetes to a new legal entity called Poxel. Since this transfer, Thomas Kuhn has been Poxel’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kuhn holds a pharmacy degree from the University of Lyon I (France) and an MBA from Ashridge Business School (UK) of Medicine. He was named a Director of the Year for 2014 by the Corporate Directors Forum for his work at Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND), has been an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Awardee, a recipient of the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Distinguished Scientist Award of the San Diego Section of the ACS and is a Fellow of the AAAS. Dr. Kozarich currently serves on the Boards of Ligand, Intec Pharma (NTEC) and Curza (Salt Lake City, UT). He holds a B.S. in chemistry from Boston College, a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.

Noah D. Beerman, MBA
Executive Vice President, Business Development and President, U.S. Operations
Noah D. Beerman joined Poxel in 2015 and has over 30 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including building and financing public companies, strategic planning and management, negotiating global/regional partnerships, and completing M&A transactions. He began his career serving in a number of scientific and business roles at Repligen, Sandoz, Curis, and Technology Management & Funding. Mr. Beerman then joined Indevus Pharmaceuticals in 1997 and worked there through the sale to Endo Pharmaceuticals in 2009. At Indevus he was responsible for multiple licensing, co-promotion and M&A agreements, establishing an industry-leading profile in corporate development as Chief Business Officer. Subsequently, he was President, CEO and Director of RXI Pharmaceuticals from 2009 through 2011, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Coronado Biosciences (now Fortress Biotech) from 2011 through 2013. Prior to joining Poxel, Mr. Beerman served as an executive consultant in the biopharmaceutical industry, and Director on the Board of Trasir Therapeutics.
Mr. Beerman holds an MBA from Northeastern University's High Technology Program and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Genetics from the University of Rochester.

Sylvie Bertrand
Vice President, Human Resources
Sylvie joined Poxel in 2021. She has 20 years of Human Resources experience in various industries and services. After a few years as a mathematics teacher, Sylvie quickly turned to the HR profession by joining USG People as a recruitment agency manager for 9 years. She then joined Sabert Corporation Europe as HR Director for 7 years, where she defined and implemented the European Human Resources strategy in a context of rapid growth. Prior to joining the Company, Sylvie was HR Director at Thermo Fisher (previously Novasep) and spent almost 4 years leading the Human Resources function of the European biopharma activities for the Group. Sylvie brings strong expertise in supporting growing companies and implementing HR strategies, processes, and forward-looking management to support their development.
Sylvie holds a Master's degree in mathematics.

Sébastien Bolze, PharmD, PhD
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Co-Founder
Sébastien Bolze has broad experience in drug development from discovery screening to first-in-man clinical trials. Dr. Bolze was global head of the preclinical candidate selection unit at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a multidisciplinary unit providing support to research projects from optimization of validated hits to delivery of candidates for preclinical development. From 2003 to 2006, he was executive head of the ADME department at Fournier Pharma. He acquired strong organizational and managerial experience in research projects within a multidisciplinary and global environment. Dr. Bolze has also co-authored numerous research publications and posters.
Dr. Bolze is a Pharmacist and holds a PhD in Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism from the University of Lyon I (France).

Sophie Bozec, PhD
Senior Vice President, R&D Pharmacology and Scientific Communication, Co-Founder
Sophie Bozec joined Merck KGaA in 1998 where she managed a drug discovery team in a pharmacology department. Dr. Bozec has acquired a strong experience for managing research projects from target identification to preclinical development candidates. She has developed her knowledge in models (in vivo and in vitro) used in research programs for identifying preclinical development candidates in the diabetes field. She acquired a solid expertise in metabolic diseases particularly in the diabetes field. This experience in pharmacology led Dr. Bozec to support a clinical development compound for all preclinical pharmacology aspects.
Dr. Bozec holds a PhD in Nutrition, Metabolism and Obesity from the Paris VII University.

Quentin Durand
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Head of CSR
Quentin Durand joined Poxel in 2019. Prior to joining the Company, he was a lawyer at Dechert LLP since 2015 in Paris, where he focused his practice on corporate and securities matters with an emphasis on capital markets, including public company reporting and governance. While at Dechert Quentin worked closely with Poxel. He was also involved in various M&A and equity capital market transactions both domestic and cross border across a wide range of industry sectors, including healthcare, technology and financial services. Prior to working at Dechert LLP, Quentin served as a legal officer within the corporate finance division of the Autorité des marchés financiers where he was involved in numerous transactions and regulatory work. He also acted as a prosecutor before the Autorité des marchés financiers enforcement committee. Quentin began his career working as a law clerk in several law firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Orrick.
Quentin holds a master’s degree in Management from ESCP Europe in France, and in Business Law from University Paris Sud in France. He became a lawyer in 2010.

Pascale Fouqueray, MD, PhD
Executive Vice President, Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs, Co-Founder
Pascale Fouqueray joined Merck KGaA in 2000 from Paris VII University, where she was Assistant Professor of physiology. At Merck KGaA, Dr. Fouqueray's activities were centered on metabolism, with a particular focus on diabetes and obesity but also including lipids and uric acid metabolism. Dr. Fouqueray was responsible for the clinical development of compounds for the treatment of diabetes and gout disease, working on strategies to define and reach proof-of- concept and investigate mechanisms of action.
Dr. Fouqueray graduated from medical school at the University of Angers (France) and then specialized in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Paris V. She holds a PhD from the University of Paris XI.

David E. Moller, MD
Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)
Dr. Moller has over 20 years of experience leading R&D efforts at Eli Lilly and Company and Merck, where he focused on cardiometabolic drug discovery and development as well as other disease areas including endocrine and musculoskeletal disorders. He joins Poxel from Sigilon Therapeutics, where, as CSO, he led the company’s rare disease and type 1 diabetes efforts. Prior to that, Dr. Moller served in senior roles at Eli Lilly over a twelve-year period, including Vice President (VP) of Endocrine and Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Investigation and VP of Business Development – Emerging Technology and Innovation. Importantly, his team was responsible for the development of Trulicity® (dulaglutide) and other key product candidates. Prior to Eli Lilly, Dr. Moller served in senior roles over a ten-year period at Merck. As VP of Metabolic Disorders, he led the global diabetes and obesity discovery area, which included oversight of the team that discovered Januvia® (sitagliptin).
Dr. Moller obtained a BS from Brown University and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Cincinnati. He began his career as Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School focused on elucidating the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes, where he had also completed a research and clinical postdoctoral fellowship in Endocrinology.

Elizabeth Woo, MBA
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Public Relations and Corporate Communications
Elizabeth Woo joined Poxel in 2021 with over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Her experience in strategic investor and corporate communications spans the full life cycle of drug development and commercialization. She has served in a senior leadership role at Flex Pharma, a neuromuscular-focused company, as Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, taking the company public in 2015. Earlier in her career at Biogen, she held a series of progressively responsible management and executive roles over a 12-year period and served as Vice President, Investor Relations. In addition to her corporate roles, she has advised, through her investor relations consulting practice, privately held and publicly traded biotech companies, including Ironwood and Cubist.
Ms. Woo obtained an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and holds bachelors degrees in biochemistry and history from the University of California, Berkeley.