Adocia gets development and commercialization rights in nanotechnology for drug delivery

Dec 9 2013

Adocia (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 - ADOC), a biotechnology company specializing in the development of ‘best-in-class’ medicines from already approved therapeutic proteins, announces today the signature of an exclusive license agreement with the CNRS, the University Bordeaux I, the Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux and Aquitaine Science Transfert (SATT Aquitaine). This agreement grants Adocia the development and commercialization rights over an international patent application protecting a nanotechnology for drug delivery in the field of healthcare. The cash position of the company is not significantly impacted by this acquisition, for which financial terms remain confidential.

Adocia has taken this opportunity to develop a new technology for oncology whilst pursuing as scheduled the clinical studies plan on its three insulin products and on its product for chronic wound healing. Its scientific expertise in drug delivery will be crucial for rapid industrial development.

The new technology, called DriveIn(R) was developed by Professor Sebastien Lecommandoux and his team at the Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymeres Organiques (LCPO, UMR5629 CNRS - Universite de Bordeaux I – Institut polytechnique de Bordeaux). It is remarkably efficient in carrying active molecules and delivering them within solid tumors. This work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals.

Adocia will adopt a dual strategy for the development of this technology. It intends to develop proprietary products based on doxorubicin and docetaxel, two of the most used anti-tumoral treatments, which could greatly benefit from an enhanced intra-cellular delivery. Adocia will also propose the DriveIn technology to pharmaceutical companies to optimize the efficacy of their own proprietary molecules. 

Research is ongoing to develop new treatments in oncology, but also to improve the performance of commercial products while limiting their side effects. Today, one of the main challenges is to more efficiently target the molecules towards solid tumors, so as to concentrate them on cancer cells and limit the damage to healthy tissues.

The innovation in DriveIn consists in its using nanoparticles that have a surface completely made of hyaluronan, a biopolymer naturally present in the human body, known to interact with the CD44 cell receptor. This receptor is overexpressed in a large number of solid tumors, thus allowing DriveIn nanoparticles to efficiently reach and penetrate cancer cells. This is known to be a limitation of current therapies. 

“The remarkable ability of DriveIn nanoparticles to diffuse throughout the tumor and get actively internalized by cancer cells has convinced us of the uniqueness of this technology,” said Olivier Soula, director of research and development at Adocia. “Our primary objective is to develop a proprietary formulation for treating ovarian cancer and to launch the first clinical trial in Q4 2014.”

“We are very happy with this acquisition now that the products based on the BioChaperone technology are in clinical development,” said Gerard Soula, Adocia’s CEO. “Considering our team’s expertise, this new platform in nanotechnology is an exceptional opportunity to fight cancer by improving the efficacy of already approved treatments.”