CEO Jean-François Brepson on Scaling a CRO, and Selling to Charles River | E59 [Sponsored]

Founded in 2010, the Institut Pasteur spinout PathoQuest sold to top CRO Charles River for $70M this year, a product of years of collaboration and stepwise investments.Jean‑François tells us how the exit unfolded, as well as the importance of biosafety and CMC as pharma and biotech outsource heavily and cell and gene therapies mature. We also cover how animal testing is disappearing from CMC and how France must nurture its biotech ecosystem. ---For transparency, this episode has been sponsored by PathoQuest.--- ⭐️ ABOUT THE SPEAKER Jean-François has more than 20 years of pharma leadership under his belt. Before his ten years at PathoQuest, he was a Senior Vice-President in charge of Ipsen’s GI-oncology and endocrinology franchise.He has an engineering degree and a master’s degree in Foreign Trade. 🔗 LINKS MENTIONED CRL acquires PathoQuest (2026) — https://pathoquest.com/press-release-pathoquest-to-join-charles-river-laboratories-2/ Werner Lanthaler | Biopharma AI, CDMO, Antibody Optimization | E48 — https://flot.bio/episode/werner-lanthaler-biopharma-ai/ Charles River Laboratories and PathoQuest Expand Strategic Biologics Partnership (2018) — https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-laboratories-and-pathoquest-expand-strategic Charles River and PathoQuest validate viral safety assay (2023) — https://ir.criver.com/news-releases/news-release-details/charles-river-and-pathoquest-announce-publication-head-head Philipp Baaske, NanoTemper | Bootstrapping in Biotech | E29 — https://flot.bio/episode/philipp-baaske-nanotemper-boostrapping-biotech/ Solexa acquisition by Illumina (2007) — https://investor.illumina.com/news/press-release-details/2006/Illumina-Signs-Definitive-Agreement-to-Acquire-Solexa/default.aspx PathoQuest US lab opens in Wayne, PA (2022) — https://pathoquest.com/pathoquest-announce-the-opening-of-its-new-u-s-facility/ Thomas Ybert, DNA Script | DNA Printing & Synthesis | E27 — https://flot.bio/episode/thomas-ybert-dna-script-dna-printing/ Pascal Touchon | Cell Therapy, Jeito, Kymriah | E49 — https://flot.bio/episode/pascal-touchon-jeito/ First FDA-approved CAR-T — https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-receives-first-ever-fda-approval-car-t-cell-therapy-kymriahtm-ctl019-children-and-young-adults-b-cell-all-refractory-or-has-relapsed-least-twice Marc de Garidel, Abivax | Ulcerative Colitis, Inflammation | E46— https://flot.bio/episode/marc-de-garidel-abivax-ulcerative-colitis-inflammation/ 📜 TRANSCRIPT Read the full transcript here: https://flot.bio/episode/jean-francois-brepson-pathoquest-cmc/ 📖 BLOGS: How Next-Generation Sequencing is Changing Biopharma Manufacturing: https://flot.bio/next-generation-sequencing-pathoquest/ 💸 DONATE We welcome donations from individuals and businesses to support our podcast and allow us to create even more content: https://www.paypal.me/PhilipHemme ⭐️ SPONSORSHIP Ready to amplify your brand to influential leaders in biotech and biopharma? Contact [email protected] and unlock sponsorship opportunities in our podcasts! 🫶 FOLLOW US Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/h_fnmH LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flot-bio/ X (Twitter): https://x.com/FlotBio 🙏 LIKE/FOLLOW/REVIEW Did you enjoy the episode? Please hit the like and subscribe button. Also, please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 🎙️ABOUT FLOT.BIO Flot.bio is a show to watch the best Europeans in biotech to help you grow. Hosted by Philip Hemme. 25k monthly views. Free. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS [00:00:00] Intro [00:02:06] Big Pharma Is Heavily Outsourcing [00:07:05] The $70M Charles River Acquisition [00:11:18] CROs, PE and WuXI [00:18:35] Biosafety with the "Intel Inside" Model  [00:23:50] Replacing CMC Animal Testing: How the FDA Is Boosting Business  [00:32:00] Lessons from US Expansion [00:38:02] Biologics, Cell Therapy, and $15B of In Vivo CAR-T Bets  [00:42:59] Jean-François Brepson: From Siberia to Startup CEO [00:56:14] Quick-Fire: Animal Testing, AI, China, Elon Musk