LILLE, France, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., December 20th, 2010 – GENFIT (Alternext: ALGFT; ISIN: FR0004163111), a biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of drug discovery and development, focusing on the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of cardiometabolic and associated disorders, will receive €1.2M as part of the EuroTransBio funding initiative.
This new funding follows on from the positive results obtained during the OLNORME (Occurrence of novel Ligands for a Nuclear Orphan Receptor in plant Metabolites) program, initiated in 2006. Within this framework, GENFIT and its partner, BICOLL GmbH, a Sino-German biopharmaceutical company specialized in high-tech natural product chemistry for drug discovery, have identified the first active and confirmed hits for an orphan nuclear receptor with anti-inflammatory properties.
Based on this success, the national French and German agencies in charge of the EuroTransBio initiative are now funding a new collaborative program between the two companies, called OLNORME II. Thanks to BICOLL’s expertise in natural product chemistry, this 3 year program will enable GENFIT to generate new drug candidates
1. The subsequent development of such products, including Phase I and II clinical trials, will be managed by GENFIT, who will own all property rights.
Dr. Dean W. Hum, CSO of GENFIT, declared: «Our initial collaboration with BICOLL enabled us to make significant progress in our internal research program TGFTX1, through the identification of natural products that are active on a previously orphan nuclear receptor. Based on these natural products, we are now ready to develop a new class of innovative compounds with a high potential in a wide therapeutic arena, in particular that of metabolic diseases with a strong inflammatory component such as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Moreover, these new developments will enable us to diversify our scientific and therapeutic approaches in cardiometabolic diseases.»
About GENFIT:
GENFIT is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the Discovery and Development of drug candidates in therapeutic fields linked to cardiometabolic disorders (prediabetes/diabetes, atherosclerosis, dyslipidemia, inflammatory diseases…). GENFIT uses a multi-pronged approach based on early diagnosis, preventive solutions, and therapeutic treatments and advances therapeutic research programs, either independently or in partnership with leading pharmaceutical companies (SANOFI-AVENTIS, SERVIER, …), to address these major public health concerns and their unmet medical needs. GENFIT’s research programs have resulted in the creation of a rich and diversified pipeline of drug candidates at different stages of development, including GENFIT’s lead proprietary compound, GFT505, that is currently in Phase II. With facilities in Lille, France, and
1. Molecules under development that have successfully completed a number of pharmacological and preclinical tests, and that will potentially enter clinical trials.
Items in this press release may contain forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties. The Company’s actual results could differ substantially from those anticipated in these statements owing to various risk factors which are described in the Company’s prospectus. This press release has been prepared in both French and English languages. In the event of any differences between the two texts, the French language version shall supersede.
Cambridge, MA (USA), the Company has approximately 100 employees. GENFIT is a public company listed on the Alternext trading market by Euronext™ Paris (Alternext: ALGFT; ISIN: FR0004163111). www.genfit.com
About BICOLL:
BICOLL is a biopharmaceutical company offering pre-clinical support in the area of Drug Discovery from Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry. Dedicated to the discovery and optimization of the highest quality lead compounds, BICOLL provides an efficient, multi-disciplinary approach to drug discovery. With outstanding expertise in high-tech natural product chemistry and validated experience in medicinal chemistry, BICOLL enables its partners to increase the quality and quantity of their drug candidate pipelines. The BICOLL group provides its services to a number of international clients with various fields of interest, such as the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. The BICOLL group comprises two legal entities: BICOLL GmbH in Munich, Germany and BICOLL Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., P.R. China. Technology development, collaboration management, and marketing are located in Munich, and R&D facilities are located in Shanghai. BICOLL currently employs 40 people at the two locations.
Contacts:
GENFIT Jean-François Mouney – CEO & Chairman of the Management Board +33 (0)3 2016 4000
MILESTONES – Press Relations Bruno Arabian +33 (0)1 75 44 87 40 / +33 (0)6 87 88 47 26 – barabian@milestones.fr
