Editor’s note: This story is part of our 2022 PharmaVoice 100 feature.
In his office, Laurent Levy keeps the first reactor he used to develop nanoparticles. To Levy, it is the physical representation of his scientific dreams — applying the principles of nanophysics to create an anti-cancer agent with a universal mechanism of action to treat a wider swath of patients. Through the company he co-founded, Nanobiotix, Levy is now seeing those dreams become a reality.
“When I started my study of nanoscience in the ’90s it was still a nascent discipline,” he says. “At the time, few believed that nanoscience could be used to make drugs, and particularly not to destroy cancer cells. The reactor reminds me that, not only were we able to prove it was possible, we were able to create an organization designed to improve human life fueled by that promise.”
In 2019, Nanobiotix’s lead candidate, NBTXR3 (Hensify), won approval in the EU for locally advanced soft tissue sarcoma. Administered via one-time injection into a tumor prior to the patient’s first radiotherapy session, the first-in-class radioenhancer consists of an aqueous suspension of crystalline hafnium oxide nanoparticles and, the company says, was “engineered to significantly increase the dose of radiotherapy delivered within tumor cells without increasing toxicity or damage in surrounding healthy tissues.”
Although it received EU approval in sarcoma, the treatment was developed with a universal mechanism of action to work across solid tumor indications and therapeutic combinations. NBTXR3 is currently being evaluated as a single agent for the treatment of head and neck cancer in a global phase 3 study, and is working with collaborators to recruit patients for several other clinical studies across cancer indications.
Levy says he was led to nanoscience by a desire to live on the cutting edge of physics while making a difference in people’s lives. While his peers in the field were going into electronics, he wanted something more.
“Leaning on my sense of fairness, I believed that there was nothing more unfair in the world than major illnesses that rob people of their potential. From there, the answer was clear: I would use the principles of nanophysics to treat major diseases — starting with cancer,” he says.
As a leader standing at the vanguard, Levy says he surrounds himself with highly capable people who can make his vision manifest. More recently, he’s honed his listening skills to better understand their guidance on how to achieve shared goals.
“When I changed my approach to listening to my colleagues purely to understand them, rather than to make a point, I found myself making deeper connections and broadening my own perspective in ways that led to much better decision-making,” he says.
“My key piece of leadership advice is to be humble enough to listen. Success-at-scale requires community, community requires mutual understanding and shared respect, and those critical modes of interpersonal relationship require humility and listening.”
Laurent Levy
Co-founder, CEO, Nanobiotix
He also sees possibilities for transformation in oncology care outside of nanoscience. When asked what the most important trends are in his field, he identifies the unseen impact the climate over the past few years has had on patients.
“At the end of the day, if the healthcare system is not functioning, or if new innovations are not being developed to improve care, the patients are the ones who bear the burden,” Levy says. “The economics, logistics and environmental risk factors of our industry are important topics for leaders to address, but I think we would all do well to focus more on what we can do to mitigate the challenges faced by the patients we serve as they seek the care they deserve.”
Levy thinks big in everything he does, noting that if he had to choose a brand for himself, it would be NASA because it inspires possibility. He describes himself as “animated by a restlessness to continue moving forward, challenging existing limitations to discover new frontiers and then applying those discoveries for the good of mankind.”
“I believe in a principle I call expanding life, and that means going beyond what you see and what you think you know to discover new possibilities that move humanity forward,” he says. “As such, the inspirational quality of brands such as SpaceX and NASA are consistent with who I am as a person.”
