BioCorp And Aguettant Enter Into A Partnership To Improve The Medical Care Of Patients With Parkinson's Disease

• This collaboration is part of the project "Health innovation for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes" launched by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the Regional Health Agency for Rhône-Alpes (ARS) and Bpifrance

• In line with its development in e-health, BIOCORP extends its expertise to a new therapeutic indication: Parkinson's disease.

• Civil Hospices of Lyon (HCL) will bring their health care expertise at different steps of the project deployment

ISSOIRE, France, September 27th, 2016 - BIOCORP (FR0012788065 - ALCOR / PEA-PME eligible), a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of innovative medical and drug delivery devices, announces today the launch of APOKONNECT in partnership with Aguettant, laboratory specialized in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of essential medicines for hospitals. The APOKONNECT project selected by the Regional Health Agency (ARS), the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region and Bpifrance, will combine the expertise of BIOCORP and Aguettant to improve the medical care and follow-up of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.

The Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease with very disabling motor symptoms, which affects around 200,000 people in France (25,000 new cases diagnosed each year[1]). Its therapeutic care is complex and requires high intensity care, especially in the case of motor fluctuations[2] and demands a regular patient monitoring. The innovative APOKONNECT project will rely both on APOKINON®, an apomorphine self-injection pen developed by Aguettant, and on Easylog, the connected device developed by Biocorp. By connecting patients to healthcare professionals involved in the treatment, it will enable improvements of the patient's medical care and ease the follow-up of the ambulatory treatment by apomorphine.

By gathering data related to patients' treatment and symptoms on a tablet computer or smartphone via a secured app, this innovative treatment will not only help improve the treatment compliance and patients' life, but will also increase their autonomy and lead to the development of "homecare" while staying connected to healthcare professional in real-time.

The study, carried out within the framework of the APOKONNECT project, will run for 19 months and include the system integration, different studies to assess the daily use and the preparation of the deployment. The tests, firstly undertaken at a regional level, will then be deployed on a larger scale. Financed by the Regional intervention fund of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the Innovation Fund of Rhône-Alpes, namely the Social Innovation Funds, and Bpifrance's financial apparatus, the project will widely contribute to the industrial and economic development of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and will help create employment. All the stakeholders of the project as well as their R&D and industrial activities are based in this region.

"Biocorp's developments, namely in the e-health field, have always been driven by one major stake: improve the healthcare of patients suffering from chronic diseases. We wish to bring efficient and durable systems dedicated to the improvement of patients' daily life and which contribute to the enhancement of the healthcare and medical support. The Parkinson's disease, which is a new therapeutic indication covered by Biocorp, opens new business perspectives and confirms our strategic development. We are pleased to collaborate with Aguettant and all the partners involved in this promising project", commented Jacques Gardette, Biocorps' CEO and Co-founder.

"Aguettant has been a key player in the treatment of Parkinson's disease for many years. Our leading product APOKINON® and collaboration with French neurologists have driven improvements in the healthcare of this pathology. The APOKONNECT project fits into this framework and will combine Aguettant' and Biocorp's potential for innovation, the expertise of our academic teams involved in the medical progress and the globalization of our therapeutic offer", declared Eric Rougemond, Aguettant Laboratory's CEO.

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