Hybrigenics : Significant progress in cancer-related R&D programmes

Paris, 18 March 2008 – Hybrigenics, a bio-pharmaceutical company with a focus on research and development of new cancer treatments and specialised in protein-protein interactions, announces its revenues for the year ended 31 December 2007...
...Significant progress in cancer-related R&D programmes :
-Inecalcitol: very good tolerance at the daily oral dose of 80 microgrammes
The clinical development of inecalcitol, a vitamin D analogue, is progressing swiftly. The tolerance Phase II trial started with the treatment of the first patient in November 2007, and now ongoing at six centres in France: the Georges Pompidou, Saint-Joseph and Beaujon Hospitals and Institut Curie in Paris, the Cancer Centre Lacassagne in Nice and the University Hospital in Besançon. Three cohorts of patients are currently being treated, and the highest dose is 80 microgrammes per day, taken orally, for 18 weeks. No signs of hypercalcemia, which is the major side-effect of natural vitamin D, have been observed to date.
-Ubiquitin-specific protease inhibitors: selection of HBX 99200
Hybrigenics' research programme focusing on new anti-cancer molecules has been validated by results obtained by the US National Cancer Institute. After in vitro tests on 60 cell lines and vivo research in mice, HBX 99,200 has been selected for evaluation in rats that will receive grafts of prostate cancer, breast cancer and melanoma cells. HBX 99,200 is an inhibitor ubiquitin-specific proteases, which is a new class of therapeutic targets for cancer treatment... [PDF] Hybrigenics' Press Release - PDF du Communiqué de Presse Hybrigenics -

GENFIT : encouraging results in GFT505 first clinical trial of efficacy

Lille (France), Cambridge (Mass.), March 27, 2008 – GENFIT (Alternext: ALGFT; ISIN: FR0004163111) the biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of research and development of cardiovascular, inflammatory and metabolic drugs today announced encouraging clinical results for activity and tolerance of GFT505 in patients presenting mixed dyslipidemia of type 2b (Triglycerides > 200 mg/dL and LDL-C>130 mg/dL). General tolerance is excellent, and no serious adverse effect was recorded. Dyslipidemia is thought to affect between 4 and 10% inclusive of the world population... [PDF] GENFIT's Press Release - PDF du Communiqué de Presse GENFIT -

Diatos : Pre-Clinical Results in Clinical Cancer Research

Paris, France, 1 April 2008 – Diatos SA, an international biopharmaceutical company focusing on the research, development and commercialization of targeted anti-cancer drugs, announced that the peer-reviewed medical journal ‘Clinical Cancer Research’ has today published positive pre-clinical in vivo efficacy and toxicology results concerning DTS-108. The research demonstrated that DTS-108 has greater anti-tumoral efficacy and safety, compared to irinotecan, as a result of an efficient and non-hepatic mode of activation. This leads to significantly higher circulating levels of the active metabolite with reduced gastrointestinal toxicity. In addition, it is anticipated that DTS-108 will bypass the inter-patient variability which is a major limitation in the therapeutic use of irinotecan. This is due to enhanced delivery of the active metabolite by using Diatos’ linker peptide technology, Vectocell^®, which safe guards the efficacy whilst reducing the toxic side effects of the anti-cancer product... Diatos' Press Release -

BioAlliance Pharma Expands Its Loramyc Franchise

March 31, 2008 - PARIS- BioAlliance Pharma SA (Paris:BIO) announced that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement under which Korea-based Handok Pharmaceuticals will receive commercialization rights in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. BioAlliance Pharma's innovative, muco-adhesive antifungal therapy Loramyc™ (miconazole Lauriad®) is already approved in Europe and a Phase III clinical trial has just completed in the United States... [PDF] BioAlliance 's Press Release - PDF du Communiqué de Presse BioAlliance -

PerkinElmer and Cerep : Partners for Custom Drug Discovery Solutions

Apr 06, 2008 - PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE: PKI), a global leader in Health Sciences and Photonics, and Cerep SA (Eurolist: Cerep), a leading provider of drug candidate screening and profiling technologies, today announced the signing of a supply and co-marketing agreement to deliver custom drug discovery services. Under the terms of the agreement, PerkinElmer will exclusively market
Cerep's target screening and profiling services to its customers, and the companies will jointly promote PerkinElmer's assay technologies and Cerep services to the drug discovery market... [PDF] Cerep's Press Release - PDF du Communiqué de Presse CEREP -

bioMerieux : Collaboration with University of Sunderland in New Research Significantly Improving the Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

April 3, 2008 . A team of researchers from the University of Sunderland and bioMérieux, a leading company in the field of in vitro diagnostics, have achieved a new step in the fight against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium responsible for deadly healthcare-associated infections, which kills tens of thousands of people throughout the world every year .

Researchers at the University of Sunderland’s Pharmacy School, Professor Paul Groundwater and Dr. Roz Anderson, in collaboration with Prof. John Perry of Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, Prof. Arthur James of Northumbria University and Sylvain Orenga of bioMérieux have discovered a new technique for the highly specific detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which primarily infects the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. It is also a major cause of infection among patients with immune deficiencies, such as patients with AIDS and cancer or those suffering from burns... bioMérieux's Press Release - Communiqué de Presse de BioMérieux -

GenOdyssee : Notice of Allowance from U.S. Patent Office for Improved Interferon-Alpha Aimed at Hepatitis C

Paris, France, February 14, 2008 - GenOdyssee S.A., a biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of improved ‘next generation’ blockbuster protein therapeutic products, announced that it has received notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) of its Patent Application N° 10/691,653 covering its lead anti-HCV IFN-alpha product GEA007.1 for application in the treatment of hepatitis C. GEA007.1 is a naturally occurring mutant of human IFN alpha 17. In preclinical studies, GEA007.1 demonstrated improved intrinsic antigenotype 1 antiviral properties without increased toxicity at therapeutic doses used in HCV treatments, as compared to standard of care IFN-alpha 2 drugs... [PDF] GenOdyssee's Press Release -

LDR : Two-Level Cervical Disc Study Enrollment in the United States

March 24, 2008 - LDR, a privately held company with innovative spinal implants for both non-fusion and fusion applications, announced enrollment completion for the two-level IDE study on its second generation Mobi-C® cervical artificial disc. LDR began enrolling patients in the first concurrent one and two-level cervical artificial disc study in April of 2006, following nearly two years of clinical experience outside the U.S.
The product was first introduced outside the U.S. in November 2004 and has now been used to treat over 5,500 patients worldwide, including the 600 patients involved in this FDA study. The Mobi-C mobile bearing design reduces the stresses on the bone, thereby eliminating the need for invasive screws or keels. These unique features make the Mobi-C ideal for multi-level surgeries, an anticipated indication for many patients throughout the world... LDR's Press Release -

MacoPharma : THERAFLEX Methylene Blue (MB)-Plasma

07 March 2008 - MacoPharma announces that after the second Marketing Authorisation of the THERAFLEX Methylene Blue (MB)-Plasma in Germany by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI) to the Blood Centre of the German Red Cross chapters of NSTOB/ Springe, also SwissMedic, the responsible authority for marketing approval in Switzerland and also the Austrian Drug Surveillance Institute (ARGES) have given their principal agreement to use this procedure for virus inactivation of single units of therapeutic human plasma... MacoPharma's Press Release -

genOway : Master service agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Lyon, France - March 2008 - genOway, the biotechnology company dedicated to the development of genetically modi•ed animal models reports the signing of a master service contract with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. This agreement is a master service agreement under which genOway will provide its client with customized mouse and rat lines tailored to the researchers' needs. The agreement is a 5-year agreement... genOway 's Press Release -