Hybrigenics and Servier renew and extend their drug discovery alliance in cancer
Paris, France, November 3, 2003 -- Hybrigenics, the functional proteomics company and Servier, France's largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company, today announce the signing of two new Drug Discovery Collaboration and License Agreements. The renewed Collaboration will utilize results based on Hybrigenics' protein-interaction PIM Technology[R] to optimize novel anti-cancer drugs. The agreements expand a previously announced collaboration between the two companies. The agreements call for Servier to provide Hybrigenics research funding for two additional years, as well as milestone payments. Hybrigenics will also receive royalties related to the development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals resulting from the collaboration. In return, Servier will obtain exclusive worldwide rights to develop and market drugs against the selected targets as well as an option for the application to other therapeutic indications. Servier also obtained an internal users' license to a customized PIMRider[R] software. This license is renewable on annual basis. Financial details were not disclosed. During its previous collaboration with Servier, Hybrigenics applied its proprietary technology to map protein-protein interactions in cell-death pathways (apoptosis). Hybrigenics selected a number of potential therapeutic targets to help validate lead compounds as potential Servier cancer therapeutics. Servier will now supply several early lead anticancer compounds to Hybrigenics, which will evaluate their biological and pharmacological properties. Dr. Laurent Perret, President Research and Development for Servier, expressed his strong interest and his confidence in the potential success of the collaboration in Oncology. Dr Emmanuel Canet, Vice-President for Research and Development, Servier, stressed that the renewed alliance with Hybrigenics represents a major step forward and opens up additional promising possibilities in the areas of biotechnology and Cancer Drug research. "The area of cancer is of strategic importance to Hybrigenics' both internal and collaborative discovery programs," said Prof. Donny Strosberg, CEO of Hybrigenics. "We are gratified to continue to work with Servier and are especially satisfied to have signed our first actual drug-discovery deal in the area of cancer with this internationally renowned French drug company." About Servier,Servier is the largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company in France. It is the third ranked French drug group worldwide. Servier was established in 1954 by its founder and current Chairman, Jacques Servier, M.D. The Servier Group has 16,000 people worldwide with 70 subsidiaries and markets its products in 140 countries with its main therapeutic products used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, cancer, and bone and joint diseases. Servier, with over 2,500 people in Research & Development, has obtained regulatory approval for over 30 medicines originating from its own research over the past 30 years and has 60 molecules in Research and Development, of which in phase III. About Hybrigenics,Hybrigenics (http://www.hybrigenics.com(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) Paris, France, is a pathway-based drug discovery company that identifies and validates new drug targets and therapeutic molecules via high throughput protein interaction mapping, a cutting-edge bioinformatics platform, cellular functional analysis, and proprietary small molecule screening technologies. As a key player of the post-genomic era, the company analyzes specific biological complexes and networks of interacting proteins (so called "pathways"), from which it selects and validates novel target proteins, which are then used to identify small molecule drug candidates. Because most drugs act on proteins or are proteins themselves, Hybrigenics' approach shortens the path between genomics and drug development. ,The company has internal drug discovery programs in the area of Cancer and Viral Diseases and strategic alliances in these fields with the Curie Institute, the Pasteur Institute, the French AIDS Agency (ANRS), and INSERM. The company has collaborated with several industrial partners including Incyte Corp., Lynx Therapeutics Inc., Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd., Oxford Glycosciences, Servier and XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.,Hybrigenics' headquarters and laboratories are located in Paris, France. Since its creation in 1997, the Company has raised a total of EUR 47M in seed and venture funding.
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