Alain Mérieux
Alain Mérieux, born in 1938, Doctor of Pharmacy, former intern at Lyon Hospital and graduate of Harvard Business School (PMD).
He established bioMérieux in 1963 and has been Chairman ever since. The company has grown to become one of the ten leading companies worldwide in the microbiology and clinical diagnostics sector.
In 1968 he became Chairman of Institut Mérieux and established the Group’s position as a global leader in the field of vaccinations in both human and veterinarian medicine. He remained Chairman through to 1994 during which period the Institut took control of Institut Pasteur Production in France in 1985 and acquired the Connaught Laboratories in North America in 1989.
From 1991 to October 2002 he was also Chairman of Transgène, a biotech company specialised in gene therapy.
From 1986 to 1998 he was First Vice President of the Rhône-Alpes Departmental Council, responsible for International Relations, Economic Development, Research and Higher Education.
Alain Mérieux is the Chairman of Mérieux Alliance which groups together 5 international healthcare companies: bioMérieux, Transgène, Silliker, ABL and Shanta.
Alain Mérieux is the Chairman of Fondation Mérieux, a family foundation, recognised as being of public interest, which operates to control and eradicate infectious diseases in developing countries.
He holds the following decorations:
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Officer of the National Order of the South Cross (Brazil 1974)
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Commander of the National Order of Merit (1994)
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Commander of the National Order of Merit of the Polish Republic (1998)
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Commander of the National Order of Mali (2004)
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Commander of the Légion d'Honneur (2004)