NovAliX is 20 today ! ?? – a personal testimony

Twenty years ago, I started AliX as a spinoff from IGBMC that offered R&D services in X-ray crystallography and biophysics.

One week later, Stephan Jenn , a talented entrepreneur, and Alain Wagner , a talented scientist, started Novalyst Discovery, a spinoff from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Université de Strasbourg , offering R&D services in organic and medicinal chemistry.

We soon met each other, and our friendly relationship turned with time to a strategic alliance between our companies since there was a clear synergy between their activities. Novalyst Discovery and AliX eventually merged in 2009 to give rise to Novalix , that could then offer integrated services in drug discovery.

The first one to join me in this venture was Denis Z. , my best PhD student, who has then been CEO of NovAliX since 2009, followed by many others, including Sarah Cianferani , Valerie Vivat , Vincent Desserich, Gilbert B. , Fabrice Ciesielski , Aurélie Martinez , Muriel U. , Pascal Muller , Dominique ROECKLIN NovAliX , Stephanie Baia , Céline RONIN , Valéry LAURENT , Gilles Schneider , Gautier DESMYTTERE and Lo?c C. in the AliX years – my apologies to all those I am forgetting. I would like to thank all of them today.

The company's growth has always been organic – based on a steady increase of the service activity, but many people and institutions helped or supported us in the beginning, including CNRS , Université de Strasbourg , SEMIA , Région Alsace , Strasbourg Europtimist , Alsace Création (Evelyne Katz), ADIRA - L'Agence de développement d'Alsace ( Monique Jung ), BioValley France and so many others.

We also owe a lot to our first customers, including Fournier (now Inventiva Pharma ) and 施维雅 , who believed in our capabilities and contributed to kickstart us.

I am grateful to Stephan Jenn and Denis Z. for having transformed with their teams Novalix to a mature, innovation-driven great player in the field of drug discovery, now employing 250+ people in Strasbourg, Illkirch, Val-de-Reuil and Sidi-Thabet (Tunisia). Novalix latest success : the acquisition in 2022 of the Sanofi site in Strasbourg (attached photo), with a number of talented scientists from this site joining the company and further increasing its expertise and know-how.

Novalix is one of the best parts of my career path, not only a great professional adventure but just a great slice of life, a story of #science, #drugdiscovery, #entrepreneurship, enthusiasm, perseverance, and above all of trust and friendship.

Novalix is 20, long live Novalix !!!