Abtech Therapeutics sets up in Marseille, the capital of immunology

Its founder is a specialist in synthetic antibody engineering

At age 44, Frédéric Fellouse, originally from Haute-Savoie, has accumulated a lot of scientific experience. The co-inventor of synthetic antibodies led numerous research projects across the Atlantic and participated in several successful spin-offs. He recently left Toronto to return to France and found Abtech Therapeutics. His synthetic antibody engineering company based on the Luminy campus in Marseille serves French and international companies in big pharma and biotech. The choice of location was guided by the presence of leading immunology companies and cemented when Frédéric discovered a structured collective at the Eurobiomed cluster. The icing on the cake is a fulfilling family life in the great outdoors.

Marseille attracts the world's leading experts in immunology research, a worldwide market valued at 100 billion euros, with annual growth of 13.5% for monoclonal antibodies alone.

After Frédéric Fellouse completed his studies at ESIL in Luminy, his professional career took off in Canada. 

After earning his PhD in biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, structural biology and genomics, he joined a research group at the University of Toronto to develop synthetic antibodies and work on veterinary vaccine engineering, before helping to launch two biotech companies: Modmab and Saksin Lifescience.

In 2021, he left Canada for Marseille, drawn by its academic reputation in his field, the Luminy Immunology Center and the entrepreneurial energy, as illustrated by Imcheck Therapeutics and Innate Pharma, two success stories from Provence.

« In April 2021, I founded Abtech Therapeutics, a company specializing in synthetic antibody engineering, at the Grand Luminy incubator. The goal is to find effective antibodies and explore new strategies to develop new drugs and new technologies,», explains Frédéric Fellouse.

“I had never seen such a well-developed biotech ecosystem.”

On site, with the help of Provence Promotion, he discovered a structured ecosystem. “The Eurobiomed cluster forges ties with local companies. It's very dynamic and publishes exceptional information. I had never seen such a well-developed biotech ecosystem, with the SATT Sud-Est, Eurobiomed, the business clusters and Aix-Marseille University. In the United States, investment funds are the uniting force, for profitability reasons.”. Frédéric Fellouse is currently working to discover therapeutic antibodies.

The economic development agency Provence Promotion assisted him in both his personal and professional endeavors by helping him obtain a residence permit for his wife and advising him on housing options.“At the office and at home, we enjoy incredibly convenient access to Calanques National Park. We are close to nature and we like to explore the hills and the coast,” he reports.

Frédéric says he is delighted to be able to meet biotech and pharmaceutical companies in Paris and Europe by hopping on a TGV train or taking a long-haul flight from the Marseille-Provence airport. Provence Promotion has facilitated introductions with Bpifrance, the Aix-Marseille Provence CCI and Aix-Marseille French Tech. The future of Abtech Therapeutics looks promising with four to five recruitments for researchers and post-docs in 2023 and the creation of about 20 jobs within 3 years.