Axithra Strengthens its Board of Directors

The appointments of Dr. Alain Pluquet as Chairman of the Board and Mr. Michael Tillmann as Independent Director brings extensive industrial expertise to help develop Axithra’s long-term strategy

Ghent (Belgium), 27 June 2024 – Axithra, a medical diagnostic company developing a technology platform for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) to measure drug concentrations quickly and accurately in a patient’s blood, announces the appointments of Dr. Alain Pluquet as Chairman of the Board, and  Mr. Michael Tillmann as Independent Director.

Dr. Pluquet has spent a dozen years with the Mérieux group, particularly with bioMérieux, a world leader in in-vitro diagnostics. He held several positions, including Corporate Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Data Officer, and President of Subsidiaries, where he oversaw the development of numerous new products and spearheaded innovation projects featuring Axithra's core technologies, such as photonics, antibiotic stewardship, or TDM. He also previously worked for the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), where he headed several entities for ten years in the field of innovation, serving various industrial sectors. Before this period, he began his career at CEA with ten years of fundamental research in particle physics with international collaborations in Europe and the United States. Passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship, he has helped new healthcare companies optimize their strategy and overcome their challenges since 2022 through a consulting company he has created.

Mr. Tillmann has thirty years of experience in senior executive and board positions and has founded multiple companies in the healthcare industry. In 2010, he incorporated Amatargroup, an incubator for healthcare companies. Before that, he served as President & CEO for Roche Diagnostics in North America and previously for Asia Pacific and Europe. His first diagnostic engagement was as Managing Director of artus GmbH, which Qiagen later acquired. He started his career in the pharmaceutical trading house, Holstein GmbH, as Managing Director in Hong Kong and Japan. He holds a diploma in International Management from the University of Hamburg.

Dr. Pluquet mentioned: “Therapeutic drug monitoring significantly increases patients' chances of recovery or even survival in a wide range of pathologies including infectious, cardiac, autoimmune, neurological, and psychiatric diseases. Axithra is developing an innovative solution that will enable TDM to be much more widely used, as it is currently limited by technologies that are too complex. Beyond the technological innovation, Axithra's solution is designed from the outset with international clinicians to fit into the care pathway, bringing tangible medico-economic benefits. It's a real pleasure to be part of such a breakthrough.”

Dr. Leander Van Neste, CEO of Axithra, commented: “I am delighted to have Dr. Pluquet and Mr. Tillmann as part of the team, bringing a tremendous amount of internationally oriented industry expertise. Their insights and knowledge in the diagnostics sector in general, but relating to TDM in particular, will be a great asset to help develop the company’s strategy and aid in paving the way for our point-of-need TDM platform. I’m honored to have them as part of Axithra’s board of directors.”