Francois Conquet obtained his PhD from the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1990. Then, he left for a postdoctoral fellowship at Genentech, where he validated targets for neurological diseases. Then, as a staff scientist at GSK, he published the first mGluR gene knockout in 1994 (Nature) and as R&D department head, he validated mGluR5 as a target for drug addiction. Several publications were issued, including one Nature Neuroscience paper. Then, Dr. Conquet founded Addex Therapeutics to develop compounds on mGluRs for the treatment of central nervous system disorders.

At Merck Serono in 2006, Dr. Conquet’s role was to develop future treatments for Parkinson’s disease. In 2012, the management of Merck Serono decided to spin out the mGluR4 PAM program to a newly formed biotech with Dr. Conquet as CEO, with the objective to develop mGluR4 PAMs for the treatment of PD. Today, Prexton’s lead compound is entering IND-enabling studies.