Welcome to MedXCell Science's Trust Fund
The University of Montpellier has officially approved the donation of shares by the Swiss group MedXCell, thereby allowing it to acquire a stake in its Montpellier-based subsidiary, MedXCell Science. Founded in 2018 by Laurent Zbinden to promote the work of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy, the company aims to make cell therapies for osteoarthritis accessible to everyone.
“It’s quite rare for a university to take a direct stake in a company, and even rarer for this to happen as a result of a stock donation. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know of any other examples,” explains François Pierrot, Vice President for Innovation. Indeed, while public-private partnerships involving the University are not uncommon, they are generally carried out through Satt Axlr, a joint subsidiary of the University and the CNRS. MedXCell, for its part, has chosen to further strengthen its ties with the University Hospital and the University by literally offering each of them shares in its Montpellier-based subsidiary, MedXCell Science.
The UM Board of Directors voted in favor of this proposal . “This company was founded here; it’s based on one of the university hospital’s campuses, but that alone isn’t enough of a reason. We host around thirty startups, but that doesn’t mean we take an equity stake in them,” notes François Pierrot. “We went ahead with it because the financial terms of this deal are entirely favorable to the University, since it costs us nothing. But also, and above all, because the mission this company has set for itself is truly in perfect alignment with the role and values of UM, ” emphasizes the vice president.
Cell therapies for everyone
In 2016, Laurent Zbinden founded the company MedXCell in Switzerland. A self-taught entrepreneur, he claims to have “the most modest resume of everyone involved in the MedXCell venture!” A resume that didn’t stop him from founding his first company at age 18, the prelude to a solid entrepreneurial career he pursued far from the field of biotechnology. When he began to take an interest in it, driven by “the intuition that important things could be achieved there, ” Laurent Zbinden came across the work of Christian Jorgensen, director ofthe Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapies (UM, CHU, and Inserm), a specialist in cell therapies based on mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) applied to osteoarthritis, particularly knee osteoarthritis.
The two men met in 2015, and the entrepreneur quickly recognized the economic and human potential of this work. “At MedXCell, we believe that cell therapies will transform healthcare, and our goal is to produce these therapies on a large scale in order to reduce costs and make them accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford them,” explains Laurent Zbinden. The idea of establishing a MedXCell subsidiary in Montpellier—to leverage the IRMB’s research and bring its benefits to patients—took root in the minds of the two men, who soon shared it with Thomas Le Ludec, the CEO of Montpellier University Hospital. The hospital and the startup partnered in 2018 to found MedXCell Science.
Local presence
The company has hired fifteen people and has joined the Cyborg biotechnology incubator, located on the Gui de Chauliac-Saint-Eloi campus of the Montpellier University Hospital. “It was essential for us to be located as close as possible to the IRMB by creating, together with the CHU, a separate legal entity,” explains Lionel Brodard, MedXCell’s Chief Financial Officer. The collaboration with François Pierrot and the University of Montpellier quickly became a natural fit, given how well we all work together. “ So much so that in 2020, MedXCell founded a second company, MedXCell NKar, with the goal this time of ‘commercializing the research of another entity within the IRMB that works on cellular immunotherapy,’ the CFO explains. “ We’re going to grow in Montpellier,” promises Laurent Zbinden. “Within two years, there will be about fifty of us at the site, where we also plan to expand our operations.”
Consolidation measures
On the scientific front, the work of Christian Jorgensen and his colleagues, John de Vos and Danièle Noël, continues to offer hope. “It’s still in the clinical phase, so we have to be careful what we say, but mesenchymal stromal cells seem to have a beneficial effect in reducing pain, improving mobility, and slowing the progression of knee osteoarthritis,” says Lionel Brodard.
The outlook is bright for the Montpellier teams, and Laurent Zinden sought to strengthen this position by opening up ownership to his two trusted partners through this donation of shares. “It really made sense for the University to come on board, just like the University Hospital. There is a true public-private partnership, and it couldn’t be better defined than by this collaboration. This partnership gives us tremendous visibility and demonstrates the strength of the science behind MedXCell. It’s a true pact of trust to create something that will change the world!”