23 Portraits Patrick Couvreur, nanodrug pioneer In addition to authoring 450 research publications and holding more than 50 patents, 63-year-old pharmacist Patrick Couvreur is also co-laureate of the 2012 CNRS Medal of Innovation. A professor at the Galien Paris-Sud Institute (CNRS/Paris-Sud University) in Châtenay-Malabry, Couvreur held the Liliane Bettencourt Chair in Technological Innovation at the Collège de France from 2009 to 2010. This specialist in medical nanotechnologies first focused his research on medicine in tablet form, before producing nanocapsules able to deliver drugs directly to the diseased cells. In 1997, he demonstrated that these nanoparticles can overcome resistance mechanisms that generally appear in tumors, such as habituation to treatment. With this patented discovery, he participated in the creation of BioAlliance. The company, listed on the stock exchange since 2005, has just initiated the final phase of a clinical trial for a nanodrug to treat liver cancer. Couvreur’s latest finding concerns a new vector called squalene, a natural biocompatible lipid used to carry drugs through a chemical bond. This process could become a common way to administer all types of treatments, such as antibiotics or anti-cancer drugs. In 2007, the researcher set up another company, Medsqual, to develop it. José-Alain Sahel, master of vision Fifty-seven-year-old José-Alain Sahel is a researcher, physician, entrepreneur – and now co-laureate of the 2012 CNRS Medal of Innovation. This ophthalmologist is both founder and director of the Vision Institute (CNRS/UPMC/Inserm/CHNO of the Quinze-Vingts hospital), which was set up in Paris in 2008. His work on survival mechanisms in retina cells has helped promote new therapeutic solutions for several causes of blindness. With his team, he has tested an artificial retina on human models, a first in Europe – and identified a protein able to preserve central vision. The researchers are now exploring optogenetics, a new discipline aimed at introducing into the retina a gene from an alga that stimulates the production of a light-sensitive protein. José-Alain Sahel is co-author of 22 patents and over 250 publications. He has already launched several start-ups to optimize the lengthy process of moving from clinical observation to developing treatments. He has co-founded Fovea Pharmaceuticals, now the ophthalmology division of the Sanofi Group. He also helped set up Ophtimalia, which develops lenses for monitoring glaucoma, and Streetlab, which designs devices to increase the autonomy of the visually impaired. This tireless researcher has recently created two more start-ups: GenSight focuses on gene therapy and Pixium Vision on computer vision. Medal of Innovation winner Patrick Couvreur Medal of Innovation winner José-Alain Sahel 2012 A year at CNRS
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