Paris, 18 March 2008 - Hybrigenics, a bio-pharmaceutical company with a focus on research and development of new cancer treatments and specialized in protein-protein interactions, today announces its revenues for the year ended 31 December 2007.
Revenues from scientific services rose by 3.4 percent to EUR 2.9m in 2007. Billings outside France reached EUR 1.56m, accounting for more than half of the total (59 percent) and representing a 30 percent increase on 2006 (EUR 1.21m).
The “other operating income” item consists mainly of rents received from biotech companies housed within Hybrigenics’ premises. The departures of Diatos, Fovea Pharmaceuticals and DBV-Technologies, which left for larger facilities, were not fully offset by the arrivals of Neovacs, Biocortech and Sepal Pharma. In addition, some vacated space was set aside for the expansion of Hybrigenics’ own activities.
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 is now ongoing at six centers 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 in 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 of ubiquitin-specific proteases, which is a new class of therapeutic targets for cancer treatment.
Appointment Eric Cohen, Chief Financial Officer, has been promoted to Deputy Managing Director in charge of the Services business.
About Hybrigenics Hybrigenics is a bio-pharmaceutical company focusing its internal R&D programmes on innovative targets and therapies for the treatment of cancer. Hybrigenics’ development programme is based on inecalcitol, a vitamin D analogue more powerful and less toxic than calcitriol, the naturally active form of vitamin D. Inecalcitol is being developed for the treatment of hormone-resistant prostate cancer in combination with Sanofi-Aventis’ Taxotere(R), which is the current gold-standard chemotherapeutic treatment for this indication. Hybrigenics’ research programme explores the role of enzymes known as ubiquitin-specific proteases (USP) in the degradation of onco-proteins, and the effectiveness of proprietary USP inhibitors in treating various types of cancer.
Hybrigenics also offers a range of services to identify, validate and inhibit protein interactions to researchers in all areas of life sciences through its Hybrigenics Services unit, using its ISO 9001-certified high-throughput Yeast-Two Hybrid (Y2H) screening platform, its sophisticated bioinformatics tools and extensive database, along with its chemical library and chemical screening platform.
Hybrigenics Eric Cohen CFO Tél. : +33 (0)1 58 10 38 00 investors@hybrigenics.com NewCap. Financial communication Axelle Vuillermet / Pierre Laurent Tél. : +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 hybrigenics@newcap.fr
