In France, cancer has become the leading cause of death, ahead of cardiovascular disease (INCA 2016 report). Faced with enormous public health challenges, healthcare startups and manufacturers are joining forces to accelerate the delivery of therapeutic innovations to patients. Discover the 20 French gems selected by RIB* in 2018.
*The International Biotechnology Meetings (RIB), organized by Leem and Bpifrance, aim to connect international manufacturers and French biotechnology companies. Following on from rare diseases and neurological diseases, the third edition of the RIB brought together pharmaceutical groups and startups on February 7 to accelerate innovation in immuno-oncology.
20 French gems
Affilogic, AltevAx, B Cell design, Carthera, ElsaLys biotech, Elyssa Med,GamaMabs, Gliocure, Haliodx, h-immune, ImCheck, Inovactis, Medsenic, Nanobiotix, NovaDiscovery, Oregon Therapeutics, Stimunity,Theraclion, Theravectys, and Vaxeal are 20 biotechnology companies selected for their research topics, the excellence of their projects, and their willingness to form alliances with pharmaceutical groups. They will participate in 100 B2B meetings.
Among these start-ups is H-Immune Therapeutics, which signed a licensing agreement in 2017 with Satt Nord granting it exclusive rights to develop and market a new therapeutic strategy based on monoclonal antibodies aimed at reactivating the immune system by blocking galectin-9.
(Paris) – The company has developed a proprietary in vitro immunization (IVI) platform capable of generating a series of human antibodies that can address the entire epitope map of any therapeutic target, directly benefiting from the in situ affinity maturation processes of B lymphocytes. H-IMMUNE is deploying its IVI platform to fuel its internal portfolio of therapeutic programs against FIRST IN CLASS targets in I/O, including a new immune checkpoint – Galectin-9 – involved in the TIM3 and CD44 signaling pathways.
Fourteen of them will give a seven-minute pitch to an audience of industry leaders and investors (hover over the image below to find out more). All of these biotech companies will meet with 18 pharmaceutical companies: Abbvie, Astra Zeneca, Biomérieux, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, GSK, Ipsen, Janssen, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Roche, Sanofi, Servier, Takeda, Transgene, and UCB.