Paris, 8th September 2008 - Hybrigenics, a bio-pharmaceutical company with a focus on research and development of new cancer treatments and specialized in protein interactions, announced today that it has obtained a EUR 1.4 million refundable subsidy from OSEO to finance the development of inecalcitol in prostate cancer.
Fast pace in Phase II tolerance trial in patients
Hybrigenics’ flagship program, inecalcitol is being developed in the therapeutic indication of hormone-refractory prostate cancer, in combination with the gold standard Taxotere(R) treatment. The Phase II tolerance clinical trial is advancing rapidly: the oral dose of 300 micrograms per day has been tested over the summer, revealing an excellent tolerance, and the treatment of patients with 600 microgram oral doses has just begun.
A EUR 1.4 million refundable subsidy
Recognizing the quality of the program, OSEO has decided to grant Hybrigenics a EUR 1.4 million refundable subsidy that will help finance Phase II clinical trials through to their expected completion in mid-2009, as well as the regulatory pharmaceutical requirements necessary for the authorization of therapeutic efficacy studies. The percentage of this contribution to total expected spending reaches 47.3 percent, a particularly significant effort by OSEO, which is thus showing its confidence in the successful development of inecalcitol.
Rémi Delansorne, CEO of Hybrigenics, comments: “We are very proud that our application was accepted by OSEO for such a sizeable refundable subsidy. It will enable us to continue, or even accelerate, the clinical development of inecalcitol.”
About Hybrigenics - www.hybrigenics.com
Hybrigenics is a bio-pharmaceutical company focusing its internal R&D programs on innovative targets and therapies for the treatment of cancer. Hybrigenics’ development program is based on inecalcitol, a vitamin D analogue, 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 program 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.
