The Faculty of Science of the University of Basel founded in 1460 hereby confers all the dignity, rights and privileges of an honorary doctorate in philosophy upon Dr. Jean-Paul Clozel from Binningen (Basel-Landschaft)

who, as co-founder of the bio-pharmaceutical company Actelion and its spin-off Idorsia, enabled the discovery of new small-molecule active ingredients, leading to the development of novel drugs to treat rare and orphan diseases;

who, through his entrepreneurial and scientific commitment, contributes to the international visibility of the Basel area as an outstanding research location and life sciences cluster with globally active start-up companies;

who, through his commitment to the training and professional integration of young researchers in the fields of chemistry and life sciences and through his interactions with the University of Basel, contributes to the scientific reputation
of the Basel area.

Jean-Paul Clozel, Chief Executive Officer of Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, is a cardiologist educated in France. He furthered his training in pharmacology and physiology at the University of Montreal, Canada, University of California, and San Francisco. After eleven years as a clinician, he decided to move to applied research and joined the Roche Cardiovascular Drug Discovery group. During his 12 years at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Jean-Paul was responsible for the selection of the first calcium T-channel blocker and contributed to several key research programs, such as the selection of the first orally active renin inhibitor and the characterization of several anti-thrombotic agents.

During his 25-year-career in cardiovascular research, Jean-Paul has published widely in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals. At the same time, his passion has remained unchanged: being involved as closely as possible in bringing innovative medicine to "his" patients. He has developed various novel experimental models allowing for the differentiation of these drugs, work honored with the 1997 Hoffmann-La Roche Research Prize. In 2007, he was nominated for a professorship at the Collège de France in Paris, France (Chair of Technical Innovation).

At the end of 1997, Jean-Paul co-founded Actelion to continue his work in cardiovascular research and development. In April 2000, he assumed the role of CEO when Actelion became a publicly traded company and subsequently launched two blockbuster drugs.

With the acquisition of Actelion by Johnson & Johnson in June 2017, Jean-Paul co-founded Idorsia, a new biopharmaceutical company that was established by demerging the drug discovery and early clinical pipeline business from Actelion. Idorsia is specialized in the discovery and development of small molecules to provide innovative medicines in areas of unmet patient need.

In the first five years of Idorsia’s existence, the company launched two innovative drugs, one for the treatment of insomnia disorder and one for the prevention of cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage. Idorsia continues to perform innovative research across multiple therapeutic areas to feed its broad and diversified drug development pipeline.

As a result of the establishment of Actelion and Idorsia, several hundred new jobs have been created in Switzerland as well as in other European countries, the US and Japan.