Jean-Michel Gries

Dr. Jean-Michel Gries is the Chief Research and Development Officer at Kodikaz.

Dr. Gries is an accomplished drug development executive. Starting as a director of clinical pharmacology at Aventis (and predecessor companies), he then became the Head of Clinical Pharmacology for Hoffmann-La Roche. He joined Alcon as the Head of R&D for the Pharmaceutical Products Division, in which capacity he led the transformation of the organization to support a more innovative mechanism of actions for the treatment of ocular diseases, leading all activities from research to registration. His successes in the drug development space cover both early-stage (with over 275 INDs) and late-stage (15+ NDAs, 7 ANDAs).

As a business executive, Dr. Gries helped create 9 companies (2 of which are now public) via 26 asset acquisitions and led them early on, in a venture capital company specializing in the creation and incubation of biotechnology startups. He has extensive licensing experience from both Roche (member of the licensing committee) and Aventis (oncology and CNS licensing committee) and Alcon (Board level). Dr. Gries also served on private companies and not-for-profit boards of directors.

Dr. Gries has had exposure to a broad set of disease areas: oncology, inflammation and pain, the central nervous system, metabolism, cardio-renal syndrome, anti-infectives (including HIV and HCV), dermatology, ophthalmology, genito-urinary, gastro-enterology. Dr. Gries joined Covance in 2012 as the General Manager for Early Clinical Development. This organization is dedicated to helping companies reach major clinical and investment decisions through efficient proofs of concept or in-patient studies. In 2016, Dr. Gries joined Parexel International as the General Manager and Strategic Business Unit Leader of its early phase organization (a.k.a. the translational medicine arm of Parexel) in order to lead its transformation.

Dr. Gries has a PharmD, and a Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics from Rene Descartes University in Paris, a master’s in Statistics, and a doctoral degree in Analytical Chemistry. He also completed an MBA with a Major in Finance and concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.