About us

DiogenX is a biotech company focused on regenerating insulin-producing beta cells for the treatment of diabetes. Founded in 2020, its work is based on the pancreatic beta cell regeneration research of leading Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) scientist Patrick Collombat.

The company is developing first-in-class recombinant proteins designed for the treatment of T1D. DiogenX’s lead program DGX-01 modulates the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway to regenerate insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells to offer a disease-modifying therapy for T1D. This program is currently undergoing IND-enabling studies.

DiogenX is supported by a network of world-leading experts in diabetes and a consortium of investors including diabetes and biopharma leaders Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Roche Venture Fund, Eli Lilly and Company, Omnes, Sunstone Capital, T1D Fund and AdBio partners.

The company, co-founded by Patrick Collombat, Jean-Pascal Tranié and Benjamin Charles, is based in Marseille, France, with research labs in Nice, France.

Executive team

Benjamin Charles

CEO, co-founder, member of the Board 

Patrick Collombat

PhD, co-founder

Hélène Sicard

PhD, Chief Development Officer

Klara Owen

MD, Chief Medical Officer

Joanna Fares

Director Drug Development Sciences

Renaud Perret

Director Finance & Administration

Laetitia Cohen Tannoudji

CMC Senior Sirector

Board of Directors

Glyn Parkin

Independant Chairman of the Board

Benjamin Charles

Co Founder & CEO

Claus Andersson

General Partner at Sunstone Life Science

Katie Ellias

Managing Director, JDRF T1D Fund

David Evans

Investor Director, Roche Venture Fund

Geoffroy de Ribains

Managing Partner, AdBio partners

Johannes Zanzinger

Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH

Leni Ramos

Independant member

Alain Hurriez

Managing Partner, AdBio partners

Co-Founders

Benjamin Charles

Co-Founder & CEO

Before incepting the Company in 2020, he co-founded Imcheck, a gamma delta T-cell immunomodulation company, in 2015 and subsequently led Business Development there. Before this, he held various positions in BD and as a healthcare consultant in strategy. Benjamin holds a PharmD and an MBA from Essec Business School.

Patrick Collombat

Co-Founder & PhD

Patrick holds a phD from Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany and is currently director of a research group at the INSERM institute in Nice, France, focusing on pancreatic insulin-producing beta-cell neogenesis. He has received several awards and honors, including the JDRF Career Development Award and funding form the European Research Council (ERC). He co-founded DiogenX in 2020 and is currently acting as scientific advisor.

Jean-Pascal Tranié

Co-Founder

Jean Pascal Tranié is a co-founder of DiogenX and a board member from inception to Series A. Graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and ENA (Ecole Nationale d’Administration), he has been founder and CEO of Viventures, the first large VC fund in Europe in the late 90’. Previously, he was CEO of Veolia Energy Germany, and then Vivendi Multimedia Director (Numericable, Havas, UGC, Cegetel, Babelsberg). He has a longstanding experience of early stage innovative tech companies (digital, cleantech, biotech) as an investor, board member or manager. He is currently president of Aloe Private Equity.

Credits photo JM Huron

Management Team

Glyn Parkin

Chairman of the Board

Benjamin Charles

Co Founder & CEO

Benjamin Charles

Co Founder & CEO

Scientific Advisory Boards

Glyn Parkin

Chairman of the Board

Glyn Parkin

Chairman of the Board

Benjamin Charles

Co Founder & CEO

Investors

DiogenX is supported by a network of world-leading experts in diabetes and a consortium of investors including diabetes and biopharma leaders

Academic partner