Advent France Biotechnology appoints Alejo Chorny, PhD, as operating partner and head of new Spanish operations

Paris, France, and Barcelona, Spain, March 17, 2021 – Advent France Biotechnology (AFB), an AMF-regulated investment company dedicated to life sciences, today announces the appointment of Alejo Chorny, PhD, as operating partner for Spain. His strong scientific background and experience in tech transfer, business development and project evaluation are the perfect blend to develop AFB’s activities in the region. Chorny’s main business objective will be securing a strong, reliable foothold within Spanish early-stage therapeutic projects and exploring the wealth of opportunities for potential investments.

Alejo Chorny will take the lead in the newly created Spanish operations and will use Advent France Biotechnology’s strengths and capabilities to serve the Spanish market in early-stage investment in the life sciences industry. Currently, the Spanish life sciences market boasts a high-quality scientific environment that requires more early-stage funding. The current challenge facing the Spanish marketplace is to transform the available science into viable, innovative startup companies.

Alejo Chorny has 14 years hands-on experience in translational research; combining clear understanding of the drug development process with operational experience in business development, investment and consultancy. Before joining Advent France Biotechnology, Alejo was in the business development team at BIAL Pharmaceutical, Portugal, where he was primarily responsible for sourcing external technologies that strategically fit the company’s pipeline portfolio. More recently, Chorny worked as an expert evaluator at EIT Health Catapult 2020. Before returning to Europe, Alejo spent almost ten years in New York. He was employed by the biotech company Celdara Medical to identify early-stage assets for in-licensing opportunities and at the Rockefeller University working for the technology transfer office and on collaborations with Spanish VCs. Prior to transitioning to the business side, Chorny was senior editor at the Journal of Experimental Medicine and performed post-doctoral research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NY). Alejo completed his PhD in Immunology at the Granada University-CSIC, Spain in 2009.

“We are delighted to appoint Alejo in this new role. As he heads up and expands our operations in Spain, he opens a new chapter for Advent France Biotechnology. He brings to the table a rare combination of scientific and business expertise, which is invaluable as we identify potential projects and startups and increase our visibility in Spain,” said Alain Huriez, MD, Advent France Biotechnology co-founder and chairman.

“I believe in the entrepreneurial mindset of Advent France Biotechnology and the way it operates. The emergent Spanish biotech eco-system is flourishing. I am convinced that investing in early-stage therapeutic efforts and supporting the creation and development of new companies is the way to fill a niche, create value and contribute to transforming the growing Spanish life science entrepreneurial space,” said Alejo Chorny.

In 2020, AFB started its early-stage investment strategy in Spain by investing in ARTHex Biotech, a preclinical stage life sciences company focused on the development of the next generation antisense RNA therapies for the treatment of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1).

About Advent France Biotechnology

Advent France Biotechnology (AFB) is an AMF-regulated company that invests in a range of sectors within the life sciences – specifically in therapeutics-oriented projects. AFB’s unique strategy combines early-stage investments in promising projects and strong entrepreneurial support to strengthen the company’s growth.

Created in 2016 in Paris, France, AFB has a strong entrepreneurial spirit; from the inception of its first fund in 2017, it now maintains 13 European investments in France, Belgium and Spain.

AFB has developed strong relationships within the French innovation ecosystem; as a result, it has attracted international VC syndicates to its portfolio companies.

The operational team is managed by Alain Huriez and Matthieu Coutet, and has appointed a number of investment professionals with long-standing track records in entrepreneurial ventures, combined with strong scientific and medical expertise.

www.adventfb.com