Who We Are
Avril Biopharma is a future-of-medicine company developing the tools, platforms and products to enable biotechnology innovation.
Avril Biopharma is a future-of-medicine company developing the tools, platforms and products to enable biotechnology innovation, including :
- CDMO services for rapid, safe development and manufacturing of next-generation products (including biologics, vaccines, and gene therapies)
- Customized interventions for rare diseases, gene therapies and cancer (anti-cancer vaccines; enzyme replacement therapy, gene therapy vaccines)
Our vision is to enable a future of responsive, safe, and affordable personalized medicine for all.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide scaleable design, testing and biomanufacturing capacity that is affordable, and aligned to local healthcare needs anywhere in the world.
Our Vision
Our vision is a world where gene-based biopharma drugs can be ordered by the doctor and manufactured in the hospital “bio-pharmacy” on-demand.
Our Leadership Team
Eluemuno Richard Blyden
CEO/Founder
Founder of Avril Biopharma, Inc. and responsible for its molecular technologies, and business concepts. Dr. Blyden has worked in Europe, Africa and the USA over the past 17 years developing biotechnologies applicable in developing countries. As CEO, he is responsible for the overall leadership and strategic guidance of the company. He has previously been involved in the start-up of medical imaging, recombinant biotechnology, and genomics software companies. Dr. Blyden received a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Cambridge University, UK and a B.Sc. from East Anglia University, UK. He has worked in the global health community as an entrepreneur, educator, researcher and consultant on biotechnology, food security and Influenza pandemic preparedness.
Pedro Cruz
Member, Board of Scientific Advisers, Consultant
Pedro is a research laboratory manager in Dr. Todd E. Golde’s Research Team at the University of Florida’s Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease. Dr. Cruz have been member of the Gator family since 1996 after finishing his Ph.D. from Wright State University. For more than 20 years Dr. Cruz have work in the development of AAV as gene therapy vectors with more than 50 publications. Thirty years in academic biomedical research working in gene therapy, molecular biology, virology, and immunological laboratories. Extensive knowledge of AAV gene therapy vectors development (20 years). Including development of new capsids, cell specific expression cassettes, gene silencing vectors (shRNA), and development of scAAV (dsAAV) vectors. Extensive hands-on experience with M13 phage display technology.
Dianne Job
Performance Planning, Strategic Planning and Human Resource Advisory (Consultant)
Dianne JOB, M.S., a performance/culture architect, creates the underpinnings to facilitate improved performance. Integral to the success of projects is her monitoring and managing system “readiness” to maximize transfer of learning and reinforce accelerated system change, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. JOB’s passion takes her from financial strengthening (education, counseling, coaching, and planning); to promoting local (versus distributed) production systems for vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing; to working with parents and their children in literacy and self-esteem development. She works with individuals, groups and organizations to sharpen their competitive edge and responsiveness through hands-on facilitation, and systems and strategy development. “Community development from the inside” is her mantra.
Board of Directors
Gary Ciment
Member, Board of Directors. Member, Board of Scientific Advisers, Consultant
Polyclonal antibody production; peptide design for polyclonal antibody production; Immunogenicity analysis. Professor Emeritus of Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology at Oregon Health & Sciences University (retired after 30 years on the faculty). Founded Aves Labs, Inc in 1995 as a company making immunological reagents for research purposes. Served as the Chief Scientific Officer for Aves Labs until retirement in 2018. Currently serve as a consultant for Aves Labs.
Najim Animashaun
Member, Board of Directors
Legal consultant with international energy sector and start-up experience.
Christi Muoneke
Member, Board of Directors
Seasoned Technology Lawyer with three decades working in the IT sector in Seattle, WA.
Marie Mazur
Member, Board of Directors
Marie Mazur is a member of the Board of Directors of PharmaJet®. She is the Director of Ready2Respond , a unique public-private partnership focusing on enhancing pandemic vaccine readiness in low- and middle-income countries and also a member of the Board of Advisors of PIVI . Through January 2020, Marie was Vice President of the Pandemic Response Solutions global business unit at Seqirus, where she had full P&L responsibility for over $220 million dollars in annual revenue. During her tenure, Seqirus became global market leader in pandemic vaccine response. Seqirus was created in 2015 when CSL acquired the Novartis influenza vaccine business ($400 million-dollar division) and combined it with its vaccine subsidiary, bioCSL ($175 million-dollar division). In her prior role as President of the bioCSL unit, Marie led the commercial due diligence effort that resulted in the Novartis influenza business acquisition. Seqirus is now one of the world’s largest influenza vaccine providers (>$1.2 billion annual sales) and is the only vaccine company focused on the prevention of seasonal and pandemic influenza. In addition to her role at Seqirus, Marie was Co-Chair of BDPAC (Bio Defense Policy Advisory Committee) at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). BDPAC is comprised of CEOs and senior leaders of biotechnology companies invested in the development and manufacture of medical countermeasures. Prior to joining CSL, Marie held successive global commercial leadership positions at Sanofi Pasteur, 3M Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. Over the course of her career, she worked on various areas such as ObGyn, Cardiology, Respiratory, Oncology and Infectious Diseases (antibiotics, antivirals, and multiple vaccines).
Scientific Advisory Board
Ken Christiansen
Member, Board of Scientific Advisers
Machine design, sales and marketing, Egg based vaccine production, business development.
Faith Osier
Member, Board of Scientific Advisers
Faith Osier trained as a paediatrician in Kenya, specialized in immunology in Liverpool, and obtained a PhD from the Open University in the UK. She led two core teams of scientists located at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya and the Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the IAVI-Human Immunology Laboratory (HIL) at Imperial College London. As a Group Leader in Malaria Vaccine Development, her work focused on vaccine candidate discovery, the identification of correlates of protection and the mechanisms that underpin protective immunity. Her vision is to ‘Make Malaria History’ through vaccination.