Catherine Llorens-Cortes


Catherine Llorens-Cortès is a French pharmacologist who is a Professor and Director of the Central Laboratory of Neuropeptides and Water and Cardiovascular Regulations at the Collège de France. Her research considers neuropharmacology and the development of new therapies for people with heart conditions. She was awarded the French Academy of Sciences Medal for Applications of Science in 2023.

Early life and education

Llorens-Cortès was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She was a doctoral researcher at the Pierre and Marie Curie University, where she studied endorphin recognition and response to morphine. After earning her doctorate she was appointed to a permanent research position at L'Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, where she eventually became research director.

Research and career

Llorens-Cortès has been interested in biologically active peptides since the start of her career. She has mainly worked on enzymes that are involved with the degradation or activation of active peptides. In 2011, Llorens-Cortès integrated her laboratory into the Collège de France Interdisciplinary Center for Research in Biology. She developed endogenous morphines that were developed into an anti diarrhoea drug used in paediatrics. Her research considers new drugs for hypertension, hyponatremia and heart failure. She developed Firibastat, an aminopeptidase that can penetrate the brain, normalise blood pressure and improve cardiac function. Firibastat prevents left ventricular dysfunction and can improve cardiac function after myocardial infarction. Llorens-Cortès also discovered apelin analogs to treat hyponatremia. LIT01-196 activates the apelin receptor, which is important for moderating cardiovascular function.
In 2015, Llorens-Cortès co-founded Quantum Genomics, a pharmaceutical company that looks to develop new therapeutic targets for cardiovascular disease.

Awards and honours

Selected publications

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