SITERA Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing new therapies to tackle neurodegenerative diseases which patients have urgent needs, such as Wolfram syndrome, and other diseases with unmet needs.

SITERA Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing new therapies to tackle neurodegenerative diseases which patients have urgent needs, such as Wolfram syndrome, and other diseases with unmet needs.

About us

Our Team

Our Team includes scientific experts and business leaders. They are fully committed to the development of SITERA’s therapeutic programs

Our Team includes scientific experts and business leaders. They are fully committed to the development of SITERA’s therapeutic programs

Henri Piras

Henri has developed an expertise in managing cross-functional teams with a focus on delivering innovative treatments. With broad experience in pharma industry, technology transfer and regulatory environment, he developed a strong expertise in Drug Development, integrating robust scientific knowledge with strategic business acumen.

Christine Placet

Christine is a biotech entrepreneur with a successful track record in creating value through VC, non-dilutive financing or sales to large-cap pharma companies. She has extensive experience in biotech specializing in neurodegenerative and rare diseases. She has previously served as CFO and then CEO at Trophos, a biotech specializing in neurodegenerative rare diseases. Under her leadership, Trophos was acquired by Roche for €470 million in 2015. She was also CEO of Horama (now Coave Therapeutics), a biotech specializing in the development of gene therapies for rare diseases.

Benjamin Delprat

Benjamin is Director of Research at INSERM within the MMDN laboratory. He is an expert in neurobiology, specializing in neurodegenerative diseases, and has developed solid expertise in the pathophysiology of sensory and motor deficits. He is the author of nearly 40 publications and the inventor of three patents. He is a recognized expert in the pathophysiology of Wolfram syndrome, with more than 15 years of expertise in this field. In particular, he has developed several models of the pathology and is responsible for the discovery and demonstration of the communication deficit between the endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria in Wolfram syndrome. Benjamin is deeply committed to finding a treatment for Wolfram syndrome and is closely related to patient associations within 15 years.

David Virieux

David is a synthetic organic chemist specializing in organic synthesis and organophosphorus chemistry. He has identified and developed biomolecules, from hits to leads, for various pharmaceutical applications (anti-cancer drugs, antivirals, antidepressants, etc.). He co-founded Phost’In Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Montpellier, France, which grew out of research on phosphorus analogues. Phost’In Therapeutics is dedicated to the discovery and development of N-glycosylation inhibitors for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. The company raised €10.3 million from venture capitalists in March 2020 and €2.5 million from BPI France.

Tangui Maurice

Tangui is Research Director at CNRS and head of the MMDN unit. A neuropharmacologist for over 30 years, he is a world expert on the sigma-1 receptor and discovered its anti-amnesic and neuroprotective roles in Alzheimer’s disease. He described a pharmacological model of Alzheimer’s disease through intracerebral injection of amyloid peptide in rodents. He led the discovery and early development of Blarcamesine, now in Phase III trials. He has authored 200+ papers, holds 15 patents, and chairs the SIGMA1_EUROPE COST network.
Tahar Ayad

Tahar is a synthetic organic chemist with extensive expertise in organic synthesis, asymmetric catalysis, and organophosphorus chemistry. His current research focuses on ligand synthesis, transition metal-catalyzed asymmetric reactions, and phosphorus chemistry for applications in the life sciences. He is particularly dedicated to developing new synthetic methodologies for the synthesis of natural products and biologically relevant targets, with an emphasis on asymmetric synthesis. In recent years, Tahar has expanded his research to include the discovery of new sigma-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, leading a hit-to-lead program.

Jean-Luc Pirat

Jean-Luc has recognized expertise (>120 articles, 45 conferences/presentations) in organic synthesis and organophosphorus chemistry. From 2005 to 2023, he was a full professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier. During this period, his research focused on phosphorus chemistry, with an emphasis on the development of new molecules with high added-value biological properties. Since 2023, he has been professor emeritus and has been involved in programs to discover new chemical entities with therapeutic potential. In December 2014, he co-founded Phost’In Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Montpellier, France, which grew out of research on phosphorus analogues.

Partners

Didier CUSSAC

Drug Development Expert

David BANCROFT

IP counsel

Funding Partners

Wolfram syndrome Patient Associations

Our Science

Pioneering innovative therapies to precisely target neurodegerative diseases

We are developing small molecule therapies
to treat CNS disorders

Innovative target : MAMs

We focus our research efforts on Mitochondria-Associated Membranes (MAMs) because they sit at the crossroads of calcium signaling, lipid metabolism, autophagy, and apoptosis. They are a strategic cellular hub.

MAMs dysfuctions are a central driver of neurodegenerative diseases and an ideal entry point for targeted therapies.

Our therapeutics : Sigma-1 receptor modulators

We are developing powerful, very selective and safe sigma-1 modulators capable of restoring the deficits observed in neurodegenerative pathologies

We are developing powerful, very selective and safe sigma-1 modulators capable of restoring the deficits observed in neurodegenerative pathologies

Advancing New Horizons in Neurodegenerative Research

Whether rare or less rare, we are faced with highly debilitating, sometimes fatal diseases, for which clinical management is only occasionally symptomatic. Medical needs remains unmet.

Our therapeutics represent a unique opportunity to slow the disease’s progression and improve patients’ quality of life

Pipeline

PRODUCT
RESEARCH
PRECLINICAL
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
PRODUCT
RESEARCH
PRECLINICAL

Wolfram syndrome

SIT3060
SIT3060

Alzheimer disease

SIT3060
SIT3060

Undisclosed rare disease

SIT3070
SIT3070

Conditions

Wolfram syndrome

Advancing novel treatments to better support patients living with neurodegenerative and rare diseases

Wolfram syndrome is a rare, severe, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease that progressively affects several organs. The disease is characterized by the combination of diabetes  insipidus, diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, deafnessand progressive neurodegeneration.

The first symptoms usually appear during the first decade of life, and the diseaseprogresses towards central respiratory failure caused by massive cerebralatrophy. The outcome of the disease is fatal.

Affecting nearly 30,000 people worldwide, there is currently no specific treatment for this disease.

Sitera-WS-planche2 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM OPHTHALMOLOGIC SYSTEM ENDOCRINE SYSTEM UROGENITAL SYSTEM
Sitera-WS-planche2 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM OPHTHALMOLOGIC SYSTEM ENDOCRINE SYSTEM UROGENITAL SYSTEM

Wolfram syndrome

Advancing novel treatments to better support patients living with neurodegenerative and rare diseases

Wolfram syndrome is a rare, severe, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease that progressively affects several organs.

The disease is characterized by the combination of diabetes  insipidus, diabetes mellitus, optic atrophy, deafnessand progressive neurodegeneration.­

The first symptoms usually appear during the first decade of life, and the diseaseprogresses towards central respiratory failure caused by massive cerebralatrophy.The outcome of the disease is fatal.
Affecting nearly 30,000 people worldwide, there is currently no specific treatment for this disease.

Sitera-WS-planche2 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM OPHTHALMOLOGIC SYSTEM ENDOCRINE SYSTEM UROGENITAL SYSTEM

Alzheimer disease

Advancing novel treatments to better support patients living with neurodegenerative and rare diseases

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive and irreversible damage to brain function, with a slow but inexorable loss of nerve cells, or neurons. The disease develops insidiously over many years, without any apparent clinical signs. When they do occur, the disorders in patients are varied and include loss of cognitive functions (memory, language, reasoning), motor functions (movements, balance, everyday gestures), and behavioral functions (inappropriate behavior in a given situation, autonomy). These disorders can change over time in the same person, but the progression is irreversible. Brain functions gradually decline, changing the family and social lives of those affected and causing a severe loss of independence

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 900,000 people in France each year, with more than 225,000 new cases, the symptoms of which vary and the frequency of which increases with age. Pathological signs found in patients’ brains include senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and generalized neuroinflammation, which the latest therapeutic treatments aim to reduce.

Alzheimer disease

Advancing novel treatments to better support patients living with neurodegenerative and rare diseases

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive and irreversible damage to brain function, with a slow but inexorable loss of nerve cells, or neurons. The disease develops insidiously over many years, without any apparent clinical signs. When they do occur, the disorders in patients are varied and include loss of cognitive functions (memory, language, reasoning), motor functions (movements, balance, everyday gestures), and behavioral functions (inappropriate behavior in a given situation, autonomy). These disorders can change over time in the same person, but the progression is irreversible. Brain functions gradually decline, changing the family and social lives of those affected and causing a severe loss of independence.

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 900,000 people in France each year, with more than 225,000 new cases, the symptoms of which vary and the frequency of which increases with age. Pathological signs found in patients’ brains include senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and generalized neuroinflammation, which the latest therapeutic treatments aim to reduce.

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