About Us

Carla Biotherapeutics aims to build and develop a pipeline of precision immunotherapies based on a fully integrated cell therapy platform to discover and develop adoptive cell therapies specifically tailored to each indication

Carla Biotherapeutics is a spin-off of Franche-Comté University (UMR Right), INSERM, and French Blood Establishment (EFS). The company is strategically situated and affiliated with Besançon University Hospital, an internationally recognized clinical site for CAR-T investigation.

Carla Biotherapeutics is a Landmark BioVentures nexus company co-founded with KOLs with deep scientific and clinical expertise across hematology, hemato-oncology, immuno-oncology, and cell therapies.

Our Team

Executive and Operational Team

Team of seasoned biotech drug development professionals

Zaki Sellam
President & Executive Chairman

Zaki Sellam is an experienced C-level biotech executive, with over two decades of experience and leadership in cancer/immunology drug discovery, translational medicine, clinical development, biotech startups, and fostering strategic alliances between prominent pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. Mr. Sellam has raised approximately $100 million in equity financing in this sector. In addition to his role as CEO of Landmark BioVentures AG, he also serves as Executive Chairman to each of LBV Nexus companies.

Previously, Mr. Sellam was Founder and CEO of Avicenna Oncology GmbH, an Antibody Drug Conjugate start up located in Basel (2014-2019). Mr. Sellam also advises start-up companies, (including Iome Bio, Harvard spin off), Tech Transfer Accelerators and pharma companies (including OM Pharma) through his strategic consulting firm ESN Life Sciences GmbH (2011-present).

Mr. Sellam earned an MS in Biotechnology Engineering from the National School of Biotechnology in Bordeaux, France (2002) and an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Poitiers, France (2007).

Mehdi Chelbi
Board Member

Mehdi Chelbi is an entrepreneur in biotech and healthcare with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development, regulatory affairs and post-marketed studies. Mr. Chelbi co-founded several startup biotech and life sciences companies where he held C-Level and/or Board Member positions. In addition to his role as CVO of Landmark BioVentures AG, he also serves as advisor to each of LBV Nexus companies and is co-founder and Board Member of Carla Biotherapeutics.

Mr. Chelbi is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BiPER Therapeutics, a biotech company developing first-in-class therapeutics to treat cancers with high unmet medical needs since July 2021. He is also Board Member and Co-Founder of G.CLIPS, a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of drugs and antibodies targeting membrane proteins.

Prior to founding BiPER Therapeutics and G.CLIPS Biotech, Mr. Chelbi was Director and Member of Executive Committee of 4Clinics (2010-2020), an international clinical research organization, where he successfully managed its global expansion, including the development of the European headquarters and the opening of 2 offices in North America. At 4Clinics, Mr. Chelbi was responsible for the company’s global development and overall business strategy supporting 300+ Phase 1 to Phase IV clinical trials for its portfolio of 150+ pharma, biotech and medtech clients worldwide. Mr. Chelbi started his career in business development at Idealp-Pharma (2004-2010), a company specializing in medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and preclinical development. He supported the drug discovery and development programs of 100+ pharma and biotech companies in different indications including cardio-vascular disease, infectious disease, neurology and oncology.

Mr. Chelbi earned an MSc in Biology from Université Sciences et Techniques Lille 1 (2003).

Maxime Fredon
Chief Scientific Officer

Board Members

Co-founded by a team of seasoned clinicians, cell therapy scientists and biotech professional with access to a world-class and unique cell-therapy platform

Françine Garnache

Fanny Delettre

Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Science, Fanny Delettre was appointed Director of the French Blood Establishment (Etablissement Français du Sang, EFS) of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in October 2023. Simultaneously, she continues her research activities within the UMR RIGHT. She focuses particularly on the development of drugs for the treatment of leukemia and, with her team, concentrates on advancing CAR-T cell immunotherapy.

A Doctor of Pharmacy, Fanny Delettre joined the EFS in August 2005 to further her studies. She became part of UMR 645 (now UMR 1098) to complete her Master’s in Research and her Doctorate in Science, which she obtained in 2009.

In 2018, Fanny Delettre continued her career at the EFS Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. “I took charge of the regional management of IH/DEL/DIS/IG activities and the direction of the LBM-IHG while retaining responsibility for the Delivery/Distribution service in Besançon.” It was also in 2018 that she obtained her Habilitation to Direct Research, validating her ability to mentor young researchers.

As Director of Biology Therapies Diagnostics (DBTD) while maintaining regional management of DEL/DIS activities since October 2022, Fanny Delettre took over the leadership of the establishment on October 9.

While fulfilling her responsibilities at the head of the EFS, the new director remains an active researcher within UMR RIGHT. Based on her research, she co-founded the startup CARLA Biotherapeutics in 2023, which operates in the field of cellular immunotherapy and aims to develop treatments for patients with cancer, particularly leukemia.

Olivier Adotevi

Professor Olivier ADOTEVI completed his PhD training in immuno-oncology at 2006 at the Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris and continued with a post-doctorate at Pasteur Institute Paris. To date, he is Professor of Clinical Immunology and thoracic oncology at the Regional Institute of Cancer, university hospital of Besançon. He is the head of INSERM research team ” cancer immunotherapy, TIM-C” UMR1098 in Besançon since 2016 and the future director of the whole UMR Right research institute from 2023. The Pr. Adotévi and his team are leading a research program dedicated to the identification of tumor antigens, tumor-reactive CD4 T lymphocytes and in the development of cancer immunotherapy (vaccines, CART cell..) as well as biomarkers identification. In the last few years, its team initiated innovative anticancer vaccine program (UCPVax) in clinic. This vaccine is currently evaluated in several cancers as monotherapy or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

About Us

Executive and Operational Team

Board Members

Ecosystem & Partners