OSEO Awards a EUR10.4 Million Funding Package to Pharnext

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OSEO Awards a EUR10.4 Million Funding Package to Pharnext, Biosystems

International, Bordeaux Hospital (CMRR(1)), University Bordeaux Segalen and

Inserm Project to be financed by OSEO in the field of Alzheimer Disease

Published: Thursday, 18 Nov 2010 | 5:14 AM ET

PARIS, Nov 18, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The biotech companies PHARNEXT and

BIOSYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, the Bordeaux Hospital where CMRR is located, the

university Bordeaux Segalen and Inserm (the center U897 " Epidemiology and

Biostatistics " ) have joined forces to carry out the DIPPAL(2i) project. This

innovative research and industrial development project is targeting Alzheimer's

disease (AD) and has attracted significant financial support from OSEO (the

French state innovation agency).

The DIPPAL project will run for 6 years and will be financed by OSEO's Strategic

Industrial Innovation program to the tune of EUR10.4 million. OSEO's financial

package comprises a EUR2.7 million grant and a EUR7.7 million loan (repayable if

the project is a success). The project will be led by PHARNEXT. If successful,

this ambitious industrial R & D project DIPPAL project will provide Alzheimer's

patients with diagnostic and therapeutic solutions - thus addressing a pressing

public health need by allowing access to early medical intervention and

lessening the socio-economic impact of AD. The project's deliverables will

contribute to a better understanding of early-stage AD. The DIPPAL project will

also leverage Pharnext and Biosystems International's national and international

business and create jobs in the Paris region and to expand internationally. OSEO

will assist the DIPPAL partners for the duration of the DIPPAL project, as it

did with during the set-up phase.

The DIPPAL project's goals: At present, there is neither a simple, reliable,

non-invasive test for early diagnosis of AD nor an effective disease-modifying

treatment. Given this context, the DIPPAL project's three main objectives are

to: develop and validate a prototype multiparameter blood test for the early,

reliable diagnosis of AD. discover a Pleodrug for the effective treatment of

AD based on above tests and take it through to the end of Phase II clinical

trials. develop a companion test to monitor the effectiveness of the

Pleodrug in humans and/or to determine the sub-population of " responder "

patients.

The DIPPAL project partners will then seek to license the prototype diagnostic

test, the Pleodrug and the theranostic to diagnostic and pharmaceutical

companies, who will complete the future products' development and

commercialization.

The DIPPAL project. This highly competitive project relies on Pharnext and BSI's

innovative, proprietary technologies for therapy and diagnostics, respectively,

and on access to pertinent biological samples via CMRR Aquitaine. It will also

leverage parallel, synergistic R & D on the diagnostic test, the Pleodrug and

the companion test from the very outset of the project, on the basis of common

working hypotheses.

About the OSEO Strategic Industrial Innovation Program - The Strategic

Industrial Innovation program promotes the emergence of European champions. It

supports ambitious, innovative collaborative projects through to

industrialization, driven by innovative medium-sized companies (less than 5000

employees) and small businesses (less than 250 employees). These highly

promising projects are aimed at the commercialization of products which result

from technological breakthroughs and which not be possible without fostering

measures from the public sector. Funding is generally in the EUR3-10 million

range, as grants-in aid and loans which are repayable if the project is a

success. For further information, visit www.oseo.fr.

About Pharnext -- The biopharmaceutical company Pharnext specializes in the

discovery and development of novel pharmaceutical treatments. Based on its

founders' extensive experience (over 20 years) in human genetics and systems

biology, Pharnext has perfected an innovative, proprietary process for

reconstructing the complex biological networks associated with a given disease.

By understanding these networks, Pharnext identifies and develops Pleodrugs,

a cocktail of low-dose, off-patent drugs already approved for other diseases.

The Pleodrugs target different nodes of the complex biological networks

associated with the disease. Pharnext performs all aspects of Pleodrug R & D

up to the end of Phase II clinical trials, before licensing the product to the

pharmaceutical industry. Although this approach can be applied to any disease,

the company is concentrating on neurodegenerative, inflammatory and metabolic

diseases. Several programs are currently underway (in Charcot-Marie-Tooth

disease, oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy, Alzheimer's disease, Charcot disease,

multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, hypertension and polycystic

kidney disease). Pharnext was founded in Paris in April 2007 by Professor

Cohen MD, PhD, his team of research scientists (made up of pioneers in the field

of genomics) and Philippe Pouletty, MD (General Partner, Truffle Capital).

About Biosystems International - Biosystems International (BSI), located at the

Genopole Bioscience Park in Evry, is a biotechnology company specializing in the

discovery and development of novel diagnostics for diseases with critical unmet

needs. Using our proprietary monoclonal antibody proteomics process, BSI rapidly

discovers novel biomarkers and corresponding antibodies in a single step. The

technology perfected by BIOSYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL allows the discovery and

development of novel diagnostics by the high-throughput production of monoclonal

antibodies which are then used with high precision to assess the differential

proteome in plasma from patients and control subjects. This technology generates

reagents for the production of monoclonal antibody microarrays for research use.

The company is currently focusing on the discovery and development of diagnostic

tests in cancer and chronic diseases, including Alzheimer's disease together

with the development and commercialization of antibody arrays for plasma

proteome profiling in various indications.

About CMRR from Bordeaux Hospital and Research Center U897 " Epidemiology and

Biostatistics " - Bordeaux University Hospital's Center for Clinical Research in

Alzheimer's Disease, directed by Professor Jean-Francois Dartigues, is part of

the Clinical Neurosciences Unit (headed by Professor Jean-Marc Orgogozo),

associated with the INSERM research center U897 (Institute of Public Health

Epidemiology and Development) and University Bordeaux Segalen. It provides not

only clinical expertise on Alzheimer's disease but also access to human

biological resources at Bordeaux Aquitaine Center for Memory Resources and

Research (CMRR) in series of patients and in prospective cohorts for Alzheimer's

Disease. As the proprietary approaches and technologies developed by PHARNEXT

and BIOSYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL are particularly well suited to multifactorial

diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease), a co-development contract has been set

up with all partners. It comprises several project phases: (i) determination of

a proteomic profile for Alzheimer's disease, using a initial " learning set " of

samples; (ii) determination of the profile's diagnostic value (sensitivity and

specificity) with a larger set of samples, which includes other types of

dementia, and (iii) determination of the profile's early predictive value with

one or several longitudinal cohorts of initially healthy, elderly subjects who

are monitored until the appearance of Alzheimer's disease or another type of

dementia.