Gilles Besin was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Valerio Therapeutics on July 1, 2026. He has served on the Company’s Board of Directors since his election by the Shareholders’ General Meeting of June 16, 2026.

An experienced biotechnology executive, he brings more than twenty years of experience in drug discovery, immunology, and RNA-based medicine, with recognized expertise in targeted delivery technologies and in vivo cell therapy. His career reflects hands-on experience building and growing biotechnology companies to key value-generating milestones.

Gilles Besin holds an engineering degree in biotechnology from the École Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg (ESBS, 1998-2001) and a Ph.D. in immunology from the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology in Germany (2001-2006).

He began his career at several academic and translational research institutions, then at In-Cell-Art, before joining Moderna, where he led the immunology platform and optimized mRNA lipid nanoparticle delivery. There, he built deep expertise in immunology, nucleic acid-based therapeutics, and drug discovery platform development.

He then continued his career at Affinivax, first as Executive Director, Head of Discovery Research, and later as Vice President and Head of Research, where he played a decisive role in the company’s $3.3 billion acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline in March 2022. From 2022 to 2025, he served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Orbital Therapeutics, an RNA-based medicine company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in December 2025 for $1.5 billion. His leadership was thus instrumental in two major acquisitions in the sector, together representing a combined value of over $4.8 billion.

Following the Orbital Therapeutics acquisition, he joined Bristol Myers Squibb as Head of RNA and In Vivo CAR-T Programs and Site Head of the Cambridge Kendall Square campus, before taking on the role of Chief Executive Officer of Valerio Therapeutics. Born in France, he combines an international perspective with deep roots in European biotech innovation.