Helgi van de Velde

Background

About Helgi van de Velde

I have over 25 years of experience in the Life Science Industry including successful worldwide Oncology drug development responsibilities across large and small molecules in major Pharma companies (Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, Sanofi). I am currently the Head of Hematological Malignancies Strategies and Late Development at Sanofi. Global oncology drug approval programs are my main area of expertise. I hold an MD and Internal Medicine specialist degree (Univ Leuven, Belgium) and received my Hemato-Oncology training at UCL (Brussels, Belgium) and the NCI (Bethesda, USA). I performed my PhD research on lung cancer biology at Univ Leuven, Belgium, and Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, USA. Prior to joining pharmaceutical industry, I was a fellow at CTEP-FDA and FDA reviewer at the ODAC on DEPOCYT NDA. At Johnson & Johnson, in partnership with Millennium, I led the teams generating six global indication extensions for VELCADE across multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. Through my career, I was responsible for the clinical teams securing three novel global drug approvals in hematologic malignancies (NINLARO and SARCLISA in multiple myeloma and SYLVANT in multicentric Castleman’s disease). I have co-authored more than 120 papers, including papers in NEJM and Nature. I am currently managing a group of 22 physicians and clinical scientists across several compound development teams.