Hybrigenics to Present Inecalcitol Results at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology

Paris, May 31, 2011 – Hybrigenics (ALHYG), a bio-pharmaceutical group listed on Alternext (NYSE-Euronext) in Paris, with a focus on research and development of new cancer treatments, today announces that the complete positive results of clinical tolerance Phase IIa study of daily oral inecalcitol in castrate-resistant prostate cancer patients, in combination with the standard three-weekly Taxotere(R) chemotherapy regimen, will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on June 5th in Chicago.

At the ASCO meeting, Hybrigenics will report a completely new aspect relating to the fast onset of action of the combination treatment: 43 per cent of the patients showing a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) decline of at least 30 per cent within three weeks (i.e. before the second injection of Taxotere(R)). In addition to the previously reported high maximum tolerated dose (four milligrams per day) and excellent total response rate (85 per cent of the patients showing a PSA decline of at least 30 per cent within three months), this fast onset of action justifies the preparation of the next step of development: the start of a phase IIb study.

“Speed of response is rarely mentioned as a metric in publications of prostate study results. We believe that this makes inecalcitol’s speed of action all the more remarkable,” stated Dr. Jean-François Dufour-Lamartinie, Hybrigenics’ chief medical officer. “This data strongly suggests that the daily anti-proliferative activity of inecalcitol efficiently complemented the initial cytotoxic effect of Taxotere(R).”

Given its excellent safety profile and strong presumption of efficacy, inecalcitol can proceed to a clinical efficacy Phase IIb study in the same therapeutic indication as soon as pharmaceutical or financial partners have been secured. Other diseases such as hormone-dependent prostate cancer and severe psoriasis will be considered as additional indications for inecalcitol, to take advantage of its strong anti-proliferative potency.

About Hybrigenics (ISIN: FR0004153930, Ticker: ALHYG)

Hybrigenics (www.hybrigenics.com) is a bio-pharmaceutical group listed (ALHYG) on Alternext (NYSE-Euronext) in Paris, 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 receptor agonist, for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer in combination with Sanofi's 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.
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