About us

Redefining targeted gene therapy
Our Mission: To deliver on the promise of targeted gene therapies to transform patients’ lives
*Co·av·e
(noun) from Conjugated Advanced Vectors
(pronounced ‘cove’)
Starting with ophthalmology, Coave Therapeutics is redefining targeted gene therapy by solving its most critical challenge: delivery. Through its proprietary ALIGATER™ platform, the Company has pioneered the world’s first ligand-conjugated AAVs, enabling Precision Vectors that are highly tissue specific, precisely delivered and safer than traditional approaches.
Through this targeted gene therapy approach, Coave has created a first-in-class precision suprachoroidal vector, designed to transform the treatment of retinal vascular diseases such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME). Coave is advancing its lead program, CoTx-101, towards clinical development, with the goal of delivering a best-in-class, durable and convenient treatment that frees patients from the burden of frequent injections.
Coave's plug-and-play technology can be applied to any vector, regardless of administration route or target tissue, unlocking exploration of prevalent indications previously considered unthinkable with traditional gene therapy approaches.
Founded on groundbreaking science from the University of Nantes and strengthened by years of quantitative analysis, Coave is led by a world-class team of gene therapy and ophthalmology experts.
We are backed by leading international life science investors:

Our team

Coave Therapeutics is led by an experienced leadership team with a proven track record in company building and gene therapy innovation, supported by strong collaborations with leading gene therapy academic and research centers.
The Coave Leadership Team

RODOLPHE CLERVAL, MSc CEFA
Chief Executive Officer

Rodolphe has over 20 years’ experience in the pharma and biotech industry. Rodolphe joined Coave Therapeutics in 2020 from Enterome, which he co-founded. During his tenure at Enterome, Rodolphe executed over 15 transactions, including major industrial partnerships with Takeda, J&J, BMS, Abbvie and Nestle Health Sciences, generating over €100 million in upfront, R&D payments, and equity investments. He was also actively involved in multiple fundraising rounds. Rodolphe has previously worked in business development at TcLand Expression and Genzyme, and as a sell-side equity analyst at Natixis Bank.

Rodolphe graduated with a M.Sc. degree in Biochemical Engineering from Polytech Marseille and is a Certified European Financial Analyst from EFFAS-SFAF.

PATRICIA FRANÇON, PhD
Chief Operating Officer

Patricia has over 20 years’ experience in the biotech industry leading R&D, preclinical and clinical operations as well as manufacturing for the accelerated development of innovative biologics, including advanced cell & gene therapies. Patricia joined Coave from Skinosive where she served as Chief Operating/Technology Officer until November 2021. At Skinosive she managed all operational aspects of the business, proactively driving the company towards achieving its development goals.

Patricia obtained her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Paris VI University and completed her postdoctoral research at McGill University.

LOLITA PETIT, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer

Lolita is a genetic medicine expert with over a decade of pharmaceutical and biotech experience in gene therapy. Her expertise ranges from the development of novel target concepts to the clinical advancement of candidates. She joined Coave Therapeutics from Janssen Pharmaceuticals (J&J), where she managed the Translational Gene Therapy Research Team responsible for the characterization and selection of gene therapy candidates in multiple therapeutic areas. Alongside this, Lolita led the development and strategic implementation of novel delivery and immunomodulation platforms for ocular gene therapy applications. Prior to J&J, she worked at Spark Therapeutics (part of the Roche Group) where she managed the Ocular Platform Team and oversaw the continuous optimization of innovative gene therapy vectors and novel gene therapy strategies.

Lolita holds a PhD in Biotechnologies and Therapeutics from the University of Nantes (France).

JULIEN BERGER
VP Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary

Julien has almost 20 years of global, regional and local healthcare legal affairs experience among corporate, commercial, medical, R&D, clinical operations and M&A activities. Julien joined Coave in May 2022 from Galapagos where he served as Senior Legal Counsel Director providing legal support and advice to its global teams.

Prior to Galapagos, Julien spent over 15 years in the legal team at Genzyme, most recently as Legal Director at Sanofi Genzyme following its acquisition. Julien developed and led the legal department for Genzyme’s French entity, supporting the growing business in five therapeutic areas, managing the launch of products in addition to supporting Genzyme’s acquisition by Sanofi.

Julien is a Business Law graduate from the universities of Lyon and Strasbourg.

ROMAIN PETTENARO
VP Business Development

Romain is a seasoned business development executive with a strong track record in corporate strategy, partnering, and operations, with particular expertise in AAV gene therapies. He joined Coave Therapeutics from Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, where he led or co-led several high-value strategic transactions, including a $1 billion AAV gene therapy portfolio acquisition and licensing deals in rare cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Prior to Alexion, Romain held senior roles at LogicBio Therapeutics, where he contributed to the company’s acquisition and supported multiple licensing and collaboration agreements. He also brings entrepreneurial experience, having co-founded and led a health-focused start-up through to acquisition.

Romain holds dual Master’s degrees in Bioengineering from AgroParisTech and in Business from HEC Paris.

ALEXANDRE SIMON
VP Head of Intellectual Property and Competitive intelligence

Alexandre has almost 20 years’ experience in Intellectual Property (IP) matters. Alexandre is European & French Patent Attorney. Alexandre joined Coave Therapeutics in early 2025 from Enterome, where he served as Head of IP.

Prior to Enterome, he worked as IP Manager at Onxeo (a listed company, now Valerio Therapeutics) and Inserm Transfert (a French Technology Transfer Office dedicated to medical research), where he drafted and prosecuted patent applications in biotechnology including in the gene therapy field.

Alexandre graduated with dual M.Sc. degrees in Molecular Biology & Pharmacology from Polytech Nice and Intellectual Property Law (CEIPI) from the University of Strasbourg.

CEDRIC COUSTEIX, MSc
VP Finance

Cédric brings 15 years of experience in financial auditing, management, and transaction consulting. Prior to joining Coave Therapeutics, he was at EY in Paris, where he specialized in private equity and growth companies and acquired deep expertise in financial auditing and transaction consulting. Cédric is an engineer who graduated from the Grande École d’Ingénieurs (Institut supérieur d’électronique de Paris – ISEP) in Paris and holds a degree in corporate finance from the EM Lyon Business School.

Our Board of Directors

FREDERIC CHEREAU, MBA
Chairman

Frederic currently serves as SVP Strategy & Business Development at Alexion. Prior to joining Alexion, he served as President and CEO of LogicBio. Previously, Frederic served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of aTyr Pharma Inc. He also served as President and CEO of Pervasis Therapeutics until its acquisition by Shire Pharmaceuticals where he had a critical impact on the development of the hereditary angioedema (HAE) franchise. Earlier in his career, for nearly a decade, Frederic served in various roles at Genzyme including Vice President and General Manager of the Cardiovascular Business Unit and held sales and marketing roles with a medical device company in France. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Coave Therapeutics. Fred holds a B.S. in Physics from Paris University, a M.S. from ESC La Rochelle and an MBA from INSEAD.

OLIVIER DANOS, PhD

Dr. Danos has over 30 years’ experience in gene therapy, as a scientist pioneering gene transfer technologies and as a leader in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of RegenxBio (Nasdaq: RGNX), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene delivery platform for the treatment of retinal, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
Prior to RegenxBio, Olivier has undertaken a number of clinical research and executive leadership roles including Senior Vice President at Biogen and Kadmon Pharmaceuticals, Director of the Gene Therapy Consortium at UCL, CSO at Genethon, as well as Director of Research at the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique – The French National Centre for Scientific Research) and Principal Investigator at Institut Pasteur. Olivier completed his PhD at the University Paris Diderot.

CLAUDIA MITCHELL, PhD MBA

Claudia is a scientist and entrepreneur with over 20 years’ research and industry experience. She most recently served as Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at Astellas Pharma in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to this, Claudia co-founded Universal Cells, where she served as CEO until it was acquired by Astellas for over $100 million. Claudia also co-founded Halo-Bio RNAi Therapeutics and served as its Chief Scientific Officer.
Claudia holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris and an MBA in International Management from Ecole des Ponts Business School, Paris, France. She was awarded the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in Life Sciences for the Pacific Northwest Region, USA.

BRUNO MONTANARI, PharmD MSc
Seroba Life Sciences

Bruno is a Partner at Seroba Life Sciences. He has a background in venture capital and investment banking, with a focus on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.
Bruno graduated in 1998 with a PharmD, from the Université René Descartes, Paris V and in the same year completed a master’s degree in Strategic Management at HEC.
Prior to joining the firm in 2017, Bruno was a Partner at Omnes Capital (Paris), in charge of life sciences investments for the venture capital team. His previous venture capital experience was at Atlas Venture (Paris/London) and CDP Capital (Paris/Montreal). He started his career in 1999 in London, in the healthcare teams of the investment banking divisions of Deutsche Bank and later Merrill Lynch. Bruno brings a wealth of experience and strong networks, particularly in continental Europe, where he is based.

RODOLPHE CLERVAL, MSc CEFA
Chief Executive Officer

Rodolphe has over 20 years’ experience in the pharma and biotech industry. Rodolphe joined Coave Therapeutics in 2020 from Enterome which he co-founded. During his tenure at Enterome, Rodolphe executed over 15 transactions, including major industrial partnerships with Takeda, J&J, BMS, Abbvie and Nestle Health Sciences, generating over €100 million in upfront, R&D payments, and equity investments. He was also actively involved in multiple fundraising rounds. Rodolphe has previously worked in business development at TcLand Expression and Genzyme, and as a sell-side equity analyst at Natixis Bank.
Rodolphe graduated with a degree in Biochemical Engineering from Polytech Marseille and is a Certified European Financial Analyst from EFFAS-SFAF.

EMMANUELLE COUTANCEAU
Novo Holdings – Seed Investments

Emmanuelle is Partner in the Seed Investment team at Novo Holdings, with over 16 years’ experience as a life science venture investor. Prior to Novo Holdings, Emmanuelle was Partner at Auriga Partners and oversaw the Seed Stage Investment Programme at Omnes Capital (formerly Crédit Agricole Private Equity). Emmanuelle has a PhD in Microbiology from the Universite Paris Cite and an MSM, Medical management from ESCP Business School.
Current positions: Member of the Board of Directors of Minervax, Draupnir, Corwave, Heparegenix, and BiOrigin.

JEAN-FRANÇOIS MORIN
BPI – Innobio

Jean-François Morin is an Investment Director at Bpifrance with over a decade of experience in investment and finance. He specializes in life sciences, driving strategic investments in biotech and medtech companies. With a strong background in finance and venture capital, he has successfully managed and structured numerous investment deals. Jean-François currently serves on the Boards of ONA Therapeutics, Egle therapeutics, Orphalan, May Health and Pixee Medical. He began his carreer at MAZARS as a Financial Auditor, followed by a role at CDC Enterprises. He hold a Master’s degree in Finance from EDHEC Business School.

Our Scientific Advisory Board

Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is a group of world-leading experts in neurodegenerative diseases, neurosurgery, autophagy and gene therapy.

OLIVIER DANOS, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer at REGENXBIO Inc (Rockville, MD, USA)

Dr. Danos is a pioneer in gene therapy with over 30 years of academic and industrial leadership experience. He is currently CSO at REGENXBIO, where he leads REGENXBIO’s scientific strategy. Prior to joining REGENXBIO, Dr. Danos was SVP, Cell and Gene Therapy at Biogen, where he led company efforts dedicated to identifying and developing new technologies for gene transfer and genome engineering. Dr. Danos also co-founded gene therapy company Lysogene and has undertaken clinical research and executive leadership roles including SVP, Molecular Medicine, Synthetic Biology and Gene Regulation at Kadmon Pharmaceuticals, Director of the Gene Therapy Consortium of the University College of London, Scientific Director at Genethon and Senior Director of Research at Somatix Therapy Corporation. Dr. Danos has directed research focused on gene therapy at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris, the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

ROBIN ALI, PhD
Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at King's College London (London, UK) and Founder of MeiraGTx

Dr. Ali is a world-leading expert in gene therapy for retinal diseases and a pioneer in vision restoration therapies. He is Professor of Human Molecular Genetics and Director of the Centre for Cell and Gene Therapy at King’s College London. Dr. Ali led the world’s first clinical trial for retinopathy and has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers. His work has delivered proof-of-concept for gene and cell therapies for inherited retinal degeneration, including photoreceptor transplantation. He is also the founder of MeiraGTx, a Nasdaq-listed gene therapy company, and has held leadership roles at UCL and on major funding and industry advisory boards. His research has earned international recognition, including the Champalimaud Vision Award and the ARVO Translational Award.

ARAVIND ASOKAN, PhD
Professor and Director at the Duke University School of Medicine, and Director of Danaher Beacon for Gene Therapy Innovation (Durham, NC, USA)

Dr. Asokan is a leading expert in AAV vector biology and synthetic virology, with a focus on developing engineered AAVs to enable next-generation gene therapies. He serves as Professor and Director of Gene Therapy at Duke University School of Medicine, with appointments in the departments of Surgery, Biomedical Engineering, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. His research group has pioneered several viral and RNA platform technologies to enable the translation of gene therapies. He is Director of the Danaher-Duke Beacon for Gene Therapy Innovation, a Novartis Global Scholar and has co-founded multiple biotech start-ups, including StrideBio (now part of Ginkgo Bioworks), Torque Bio and Lucidigm Therapeutics.

JULIETTE HORDEAUX, DVM, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer at GEMMA Biotherapeutics (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Dr. Hordeaux is a recognized leader in the development of AAV-based CNS-targeted gene therapies, focused on translating preclinical innovations to clinical-stage programs. She is currently CSO at GEMMA Biotherapeutics. Prior to this, Dr. Hordeaux was Executive Director of Translational Research at the Gene Therapy Program, University of Pennsylvania. In this role, she led a team of scientists investigating AAV therapies for rare monogenic disorders, with specific interest in AAV-mediated toxicity and ways to develop safer gene therapy modalities. She has successfully guided five AAV-programs through Investigational New Drug (IND) applications and is regularly invited to speak at events discussing AAV-mediated toxicity.

FEDERICO MINGOZZI, PhD
Chief Executive Officer of Nava Therapeutics (Philadelphia, PA, USA)

Dr. Mingozzi brings extensive expertise in gene therapy R&D and clinical translation, with a focus on developing gene therapies targeting the eye, liver and central nervous system. He has held key scientific roles at Spark Therapeutics, Genethon, INSERM and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His academic research advanced the understanding of immune responses to AAV vectors and strategies to improve the safety and efficacy of in vivo gene transfer. Dr. Mingozzi has contributed to pioneering gene therapy trials for bleeding disorders, inherited blindness (LUXTURNA®), and metabolic and neuromuscular diseases. His work spans delivery technologies, manufacturing, regulatory strategy and clinical development. Passionate about innovation and mentorship, he is dedicated to translating science into transformative therapies for patients.

AMY POOLER, PhD
Senior Vice President, Research and Development at Life Edit Therapeutics (Durham, NC, USA)

Dr. Pooler is a leading expert in translational neuroscience and genetic medicine, with leadership roles in developing CNS-targeted therapies at Life Edit. Prior to joining Life Edit, Dr. Pooler held various leadership roles at Sangamo Therapeutics. She most recently served as Vice President, Head of Research where she helped establish multiple global licensing and R&D collaborations. She also built the neuroscience team and established an internal neurology pipeline, in addition to supporting multiple programs partnered with pharma companies.

Technology

Redefining targeted gene therapy
Coave Therapeutics is redefining targeted gene therapy by solving its most critical challenge: delivery. Through its proprietary ALIGATER™ platform, Coave is pioneering first-in-class ligand-conjugated AAVs, enabling Precision Vectors that are highly tissue specific, powering safe and precisely delivered targeted gene therapies.
ALIGATER™ platform
Coave’s Precision Vectors are agnostic to genetic payloads and unlock treatment for a range of prevalent indications that were previously unthinkable for traditional gene therapy approaches. This is due to their excellent safety profile, increased speed of development, cost efficiency, and streamlined and simple manufacturing.
The ultimate treatment for retinal vascular diseases
In ophthalmology, Coave’s approach has created the first precision suprachoroidal vector that could transform the treatment of retinal vascular diseases, such as wet AMD and DME, creating the ultimate treatment that could enable:
Durable efficacy with the aim of being ≥70% of patients injection-free at one year
Low burden delivery in a doctor’s office
Steroid free treatment – without concern of immune response
Ability to treat the second eye
Retinal vascular diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME), are a highly prevalent group of conditions that affect the blood vessels of the eye. Over time, these conditions can lead to vision impairment and vision loss.
The current standard of care for many of these conditions is anti-VEGF biologics. These treatments are, however, highly burdensome, requiring repeated injections through the front of the eye every 4-12 weeks, often for life.
As a result of this burden, many patients extend treatment intervals, leading to fluctuating VEGF levels and suboptimal disease control. More than 40% of patients discontinue treatment after the first year1, resulting in uncontrolled disease progression and further vision loss.
Gene therapy offers the potential for a continuous anti-angiogenic effect that provides long-term protection for vision, maintaining durable efficacy against disease progression without the need for repeated interventions.
However, current ocular gene therapies in development have not been able to overcome the treatment burden, with invasive administration, safety risks and no optimization for second eye treatment. A successful ocular gene therapy needs to address all three essential elements of durability, efficacy and safety.
While other gene therapy approaches have to make trade-offs between these three critical elements to make their treatments feasible, Coave’s lead program, CoTx-101, offers a breakthrough in the treatment of retinal vascular diseases.
Powered by the first precision suprachoroidal vector, it is highly tissue specific and is able to evade the immune system to deliver the highest clinical benefit with the lowest treatment burden, providing durable vision gains via non-surgical administration.
Read more about CoTx-101 here.

1 Khanani AM, et al. Ophthalmol Retina. 2020;4(2):122-133

Manufacturing

A key element of our strategy is to develop a robust manufacturing process for our targeted gene therapies.
Starting with our delivery platform, our growing team of in-house experts have built one of the most advanced gene therapy technologies in the world that can be applied to any vector, regardless of administration route or target tissue. This plug and play process can be integrated seamlessly into existing AAV manufacturing workflows transferred to CDMOs, maintaining comparable yields while enabling scalable, transferable production.
Coave has established robust in-house process development and analytical capabilities. Our state-of-the-art process development operations are based at the OXB facility in Lyon, providing us with the flexibility and capacity to manufacture high-quality gene therapy products at scale.

Pipeline

Our delivery-first approach is powering a pipeline of targeted gene therapies aimed at treating prevalent diseases, with an initial focus on retinal vascular diseases.
Our pipeline has been purposefully designed to align proven biology with validated disease mechanisms – maximizing the probability of clinical and commercial success.
CoTx-101
Powered by Coave's best-in-class proprietary suprachoroidal AAV vector, CoTx-101 represents a potential breakthrough treatment for retinal vascular diseases. It combines three essential attributes of durability, efficacy and safety, which current therapies have yet to achieve simultaneously. With no trade-offs, CoTx-101 aims to deliver durable vision gains via an in-office procedure targeting the back of the eye, offering the highest clinical benefit with the lowest treatment burden.
By pairing a best-in-class suprachoroidal delivery route with a first-in-class vector, CoTx-101 achieves deep retinal penetration, broad tissue coverage, and sustained expression of two clinically validated biologics targeting the angiogenesis pathway.
Unlike other gene therapies requiring invasive subretinal surgery, CoTx-101 is administered via an in-office procedure targeting the back of the eye that is as routine as an anti-VEGF injection. Maintaining continuous anti-angiogenic effects without steroids, it aims to keep ≥70% of ALL patients injection-free at one year, freeing patients from the burden of repeated injections. Unlike other approaches, CoTx-101 also enables treatment of both eyes by evading immune responses triggered by the first administration.

Careers

JOB OPENINGS

We are a talented, passionate group of colleagues with a desire to translate innovative science into novel gene therapies for patients with neurodegenerative and ocular diseases and beyond.

We are committed to building a vibrant team combining deep expertise in AAV vector engineering and genetic construct design, innovative and advanced therapeutic product development, and manufacturing.

We are looking for more talented individuals to join our team.

Technicien supérieur/Assistant ingénieur R&D en bioconjugaison 

18 November 2025
Afin de compléter notre équipe bioconjugaison (3 personnes) et ce en prévision d’un accroissement important des activités du service dans les prochains mois, nous sommes à la recherche d'un Assistant Ingénieur/technicien supérieur talentueux pour contribuer à l'avancement de notre plateforme technologique de pointe ALIGATER, qui permet le développement des vecteurs conjugués exclusifs de Coave (coAAVs). Si vous êtes passionné par la science, l'innovation et la réalisation de percées dans le domaine de la biothérapie, voici votre chance d'avoir un impact significatif.
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Contact us

We welcome enquiries regarding our pipeline programs, ALIGATER technology, partnerships, and career openings.

Headquarters
63bis avenue Ledru Rolin
75012 Paris – France

Labs

Biolabs
Campus Broussais
Bâtiment Steg – 2e Etage
8 rue Helena Maria Vieira Da Silva
75014 PARIS

contact@coavetx.com
Business Development Enquiries
bd@coavetx.com