CEA-Leti receives €1M from bpifrance to accelerate the development of liver-cancer detection system

Jul 4 2013

Grant Helps Launch NICE: France’s First Nanomedicine Consortium

CEA-Leti announced today €1 million in funding from bpifrance to accelerate preclinical development of a liver-cancer detection system called LipImage 815™.

The grant, awarded through bpifrance ’s Strategic Industrial Innovation (ISI) program, will accelerate the development of LipImage 815™, including production and regulatory toxicity evaluation. It also supports the launch of NICE (Nano Innovation for Cancer), the first consortium of nanomedicine stakeholders in France focused on aspects of characterization and industrialization. The consortium has been accredited by the Medicen Paris Region, a competitive cluster for innovative therapies in Ile-de-France (www.medicen.org).

Developed by Leti, LipImage 815™ is a fluorescent imaging agent based on Leti’s Lipidots® platform that uses lipid nanoparticles to carry a fluorescent substance to targeted cells and improve the effectiveness of diagnosis. It will be used to test for early stages of liver cancer.

Consisting of five public and private partners and led by BioAlliance Pharma, the NICE consortium includes partners with deep expertise in the field of nanomedicine. Its mission is to build a platform to accelerate the development and industrialization of nanomedicine in France by capitalizing on the strong and complementary expertise of each partner.

In addition to Leti, the consortium includes:

• BioAlliance Pharma, developer of Livatag®, a doxorubicin nanoparticle currently in phase III clinical trial for treatment of primary liver cancer
• Nanobiotix, developer of NBTXR3, a potentiator of radiation therapy in the local treatment of cancer
• DBI, a company specialized in the production of nanomedicine pharmaceutical products
• Institut Galien Paris Sud (University Paris Sud/CNRS), which has an academic-excellence team specialized in nanoparticles research

“By bringing together a highly experienced team of specialists in various fields of nanomedicine, this program can significantly accelerate the development of an effective new tool for diagnosing liver cancer,” said Laurent Malier, Leti CEO. “It also leverages Leti’s achievements in the Lipidots® platform, and provides another avenue for us to bring our innovations to market.”