Pascale Bouillé, President of Flash Therapeutics in Toulouse: “Taking the place of world leader with our RNA technology”
Pascale Bouillé is president of Toulouse-based Biotech Flash Therapeutics, founded in 2005 under the name Vectalys. Forty people are now working on the Oncopole-Campus santé du futur site for research and production of gene transfer technologies.
We have talked a lot about you on occasion for your vaccine project against Covid-19 but Flash Therapeutics is not a new company …
Yes, Flash Therapeutics is the follow-up to Vectalys created in 2005 to produce tools for transferring genes into cells. Flash Therapeutics, in 2018, is expanding our know-how so as not to be a simple subcontractor. From now on, our job is to conceptualize, develop and produce. We have the technologies and we produce, we want to control the entire chain.
Could you have been ready to offer a Covid-19 vaccine?
In 2015, we patented our transfer technology to messenger RNA of biological origin. It’s great technology for developing vaccines, but we haven’t been on time for Covid-19. We intend to be present quickly, in vaccination but also in cancer or in rare genetic diseases in which we are pioneers. This technology is the future. With our RNA bioproduction technology, we are positioning ourselves in targeted vaccination for certain populations. For example, we believe that our formula is more effective than chemical RNA technology (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) in the elderly or immunocompromised and we can provide added value. We must take the place of world leader in this market.
Is this the reason for your move to the premises rented from the Pierre-Fabre company?
Yes, to obtain authorizations from drug agencies, we absolutely have to produce in a so-called GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) area. At the end of 2022, we will have 2,500 to 3,000m2 of premises and within two years, we will go from 41 to 70 employees, mainly hiring for the production and quality control parts.