Laurent Meijer

After 32 years of classical academic career (PhD (Lille/Paris Universities), post-doc (Stanford University, Hopkins Marine Laboratory), CNRS researcher and team leader (Station Biologique de Roscoff), sabbaticals (University of Washington, Seattle; Rockefeller University, New York), Laurent Meijer founded ManRos Therapeutics and Perha Pharmaceuticals (‘From Sea to Pharmacy’), two small biotech companies focused on the development of kinase inhibitors as therapeutic drugs. Aged 72, he is author of >370 scientific articles and co-inventor in 49 patents.
His two current major projects are:
(1) the development of otoprotective drugs for the prevention of hearing loss induced by ototoxic agents and acoustic trauma.
(2) the development of DYRK1A inhibitors for the correction of cognitive disorders associated with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. In these latter indications, the drug candidate Leucettinib-21 has entered phase 1 clinical trial in January 2024. Other indications such as myocardial infarction and diabetes are being explored with Leucettinibs. Leucettinibs are synthetic heterocycles derived from Leucettamine B, a marine natural product identified in the calcareous sponge Leucetta microraphis.