Biography and research overview
Dr Florence Raynaud graduated in pharmacy from the University of Paris V where she carried out an MSc in pharmacochemistry. She pursued a PhD in neuroscience at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, and has been working at The Institute of Cancer Research since 1992.
Dr Raynaud has been involved in the preclinical development of 20 compounds that were synthesised at the ICR and nominated for clinical development. These include platinum agents, antimetabolites, signal transduction pathway inhibitors, and antihormonal agents (including abiraterone).
Her interest lies in optimising the pharmaceutical properties of new agents to improve their administration schedules. She also supports the first-in-man pharmacokinetic studies of some of these drugs in early clinical trials, and is interested in the evaluation of small-molecule metabolites as markers of whether a drug is successfully hitting its target.
Dr Raynaud enjoys the multidisciplinary aspect of drug discovery and development which revolve around interactions with chemists, biologists and clinicians. Over the years she has collaborated with a number of biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical companies and academic groups. She was the project leader of the PI3K programme in collaboration with Piramed which led to the development of GDC-0941, now licensed to Genentech-Roche.