Alain Pralong, PhD

Alain brings more than 20 years of global experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with expertise in gene therapy, therapeutic proteins, vaccines and cell therapy. During his career, Alain has played key roles in building manufacturing and quality organizations and overseeing process development up to launch, commercial manufacturing, and technical life cycle management.

Alain most recently served as Head of Manufacturing Process and Development at AgenTus Therapeutics, where he held responsibility for manufacturing two cell therapy programs, both entering into Phase 1 clinical development.  Prior to joining AgenTus, Alain held a number of roles increasing in seniority at Schering-Plough, Roche, Merck-Serono, Crucell, GlaxoSmithKline, Cell Medica, and AMAL Therapeutics, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure at Cell Medica, Alain led the development of cell therapy products for phase II clinical trials in oncology and the manufacturing of immune reconstitutions products to treat CMV and AdV infections post transplantation. At AMAL, Alain set up external manufacturing networks for phase I clinical studies for a therapeutic cancer vaccine. When working at Agentus Therapeutics, Alain led development of a CAR-T and an iNKT based cell therapy products. Since 2020, Alain works full-time as an independent consultant supporting clients in development biopharmaceutical and cell & gene therapy products in CMC, QA, and some RA activities. 

Alain has also contributed several chapters to textbooks in the field, holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Berne, Switzerland.

Alain is chairing the ASTM E55.91 workgroup and has been listed in the 100 most influential people in biopharmaceutical industry issued by The Medicine Maker.

Alain is also Associate Professor at the University Marseille, France, teaching Bioprocess Industrialization and Quality to bioprocess engineering students at the Polytech.

Alain serves also on three Scientific Advisory Boards.