EVRY, France, July 6 /PRNewswire/ --
- Biopharmaceutical Start-Up With Lead Product in Phase I/II Names Experienced Pharma Industry Players
LTKfarma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and marketing cell therapy products derived from modified T-cells to treat leukemia and autoimmune diseases, announced today its creation and the appointment of its advisory board.
"The know-how and experience of our advisory board members, coupled with our sound intellectual property portfolio, mean that we can move forward with accelerating the clinical development of our lead product TK54, currently in Phase I/II, and with raising funds for Phase II/III trials," declared Laurent de Narbonne, MD, LTKfarma Chairman.
Alain Clergeot President of Chugai Pharma France. Tamara Joseph Executive Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Mayne Pharma Ltd David Klatzmann Director of the Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory for Immune Pathologies (CNRS/ Universite Pierre et Marie Curie) Jean-Francois Labbe Former European President of HMR and COO of ProStrakan. Laurent de Narbonne General Manager of Octapharma France, Belgium and Luxemburg Leo van Wersch former President of P&G Pharmaceuticals France and Vice-President P&G Pharmaceuticals Europe. LTKfarma
LTKfarma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and marketing of cell therapy products derived from modified T-cells in the treatment of leukemia and severe forms of autoimmune pathologies (scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis). Incorporated in March 2006, and led by Chairman Laurent de Narbonne, the company is based in the Evry Genopole(R). LTKfarma has exclusive rights to use 31 patents in six families following an exclusive license granted in March 2006 by the University of Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC/Paris VI) with rights in Europe, the US and Japan.
During its creation, LTKfarma carried off the first special jury prize in the 7th National Business and Innovative Technologies Creation Contest.
Technology
LTKfarma develops products based on research by Pr David Klatzmann, Director of the Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory for Immune Pathologies (CNRS/UPMC), and his collaborators, and by Pr Francois Lemoine (Faculty of medicine PMC) and Dr Jose Cohen (Inserm).
TK54 is a cell therapy product made up of modified T-cells, which express "suicide" gene coding for a viral enzyme, the herpes virus thymidine kinase (TK) that is able to transform chemically an inactive drug (ganciclovir) into a derivative that is specifically toxic to dividing cells, which then die by "cellular suicide". This is the case with the T-cells present in the graft, which are frequently the cause of graft versus host disease. This complication, which often resists other types of treatment, is a frequent cause of death. The treatment consists of the injection of modified T-cells expressing TK followed by treatment with ganciclovir if graft versus host disease occurs.
LTKfarmaCONTACT: Media and analyst contacts: Andrew Lloyd & Associates, GillesPetitot, Juliette dos Santos, Tel: +33-1-56-54-07-00, gilles@ala.com,juliette@ala.com
