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

Martine Clozel is a pioneer in drug discovery. During her successful career as a scientist and entrepreneur, she spearheaded research that led to the discovery of a number of drugs that revolutionized treatment paradigms in several disease areas.

Martine holds an MD degree from Nancy University, France, where she specialized in pediatrics and neonatal intensive care. She received further training in physiology and pharmacology from McGill University, Montreal, and the University of California, San Francisco. During her early career at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, she initiated research on endothelin and endothelin receptor antagonists. This research led, years later, to the registration of several molecules: TRACLEER® (bosentan) for the prevention of digital ulcerations in scleroderma, TRACLEER® and OPSUMIT® (macitentan) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension, and PIVLAZ™ (clazosentan) for the prevention of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Her research has also led to the discovery of aprocitentan, a molecule that has recently demonstrated strong antihypertensive efficacy in a Phase 3 study of resistant hypertension.

In 1997, Martine was awarded the Hoffmann-La Roche Research Prize for her achievements in the field of endothelin research. That same year, after 11 years at Roche, Martine co-founded Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, where she served as Head of Drug Discovery, Pharmacology & Preclinical Development and later as Chief Scientific Officer.

At Actelion, Martine and her team’s work contributed to bringing seven different drugs to the market. Under Martine’s leadership, Actelion also initiated research on the orexin system and orexin receptor antagonists, on S1P1 receptor and S1P1 modulators, and many other drug discovery projects. From this research several drugs were born which have now been approved.  For example, PONVORY™ (ponesimod) for patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and QUVIVIQ™ (daridorexant) for the treatment of patients with insomnia disorder.

With the acquisition of Actelion by Johnson & Johnson in June 2017, Martine co-founded Idorsia, which was established as the result of a demerger from Actelion of the discovery pipeline and early-stage clinical assets. Within its first five years of existence, Idorsia has already launched two drugs, and has a rich research and development pipeline. Martine serves as Idorsia’s Chief Scientific Officer and is a member of the company’s Executive Committee.

In 2008, Martine was honored as “Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur”. In 2015, she was awarded the Tomoh Masaki award, and in 2018, she received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from EPFL in recognition of her “continued leadership in translational research through the discovery and delivery of pioneering drugs to patients with pulmonary hypertension, cardiovascular, immunological and orphan diseases, and for her inspiring enthusiasm for science, education and entrepreneurship”.

Martine has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, been author of more than 40 patent applications, and has co-authored several books in the areas of endothelin and of orexin research and applications.