Development funding
Neovacs, a company that develops therapeutic vaccines, and BMD, a diagnostics company that focuses on autoimmune diseases, have received €7.9 million from OSEO Innovation for a theranostics – therapeutic diagnosis – project, Tracker, which is based on rheumatoid arthritis.
The project – set up to develop a global therapeutic strategy for people with rheumatoid arthritis – will be managed by Neovacs, a company spun off from the Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris in 1993.
Currently, the most effective drug available for rheumatoid arthritis is anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies. However, these antibodies rapidly induce other antibodies that neutralise them, which can lead to resistance to or intolerance of the treatment.
In the Tracker project, researchers will validate diagnostics tools developed by BMD to evaluate the neutralising antibodies, and will test an anti-TNF immunisation strategy developed by Neovacs.
Neovacs CEO Guy‐Charles Fanneau de La Horie said: “We are delighted about this significant grant from OSEO Innovation for Neovacs and BMD. It will allow us to conduct a highly innovative major new research programme that could provide a solution for thousands of patients in whom the existing therapeutic arsenal has failed to treat what is an extremely disabling disease.”
Of the €7.9 million funding from OSEO Innovation, €2.5 million is given as a grant, and €5.4 million as a repayable advance.
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