At the7th edition of Innovation Days, held on October 3 and 4, 2016, at the Maison de la Chimie, BioVersys, represented by Marc Gitzinger, and the Lille-based academic research consortium TBboost, represented by Nicolas Willand, received the Innovation Award in the Biotech category.
Hope for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
In 2010, BioVersys began working closely with two teams in Lille, coordinated by Professors Benoit Déprez and Nicolas Willand, experts in drug discovery, and by Research Director Alain Baulard, an expert in the field of tuberculosis.
This collaboration was formalized in 2013 by a co-development and licensing agreement signed between BioVersys and SATT-Nord, representing institutional partners: Institut Pasteur de Lille, Inserm, CNRS, and Université de Lille. SATT Nord then continued to provide financial support to the TBBoost team in order to bring this project to a stage of maturity sufficient to enable the launch of pre-clinical trials in partnership with an industrial company.
The agreement covers the development of molecules that eliminate antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis bacilli by targeting transcriptional regulators. Proof of concept was achieved with ethionamide, an antibiotic that has been in use for over 40 years and is an essential pillar in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The public-private consortium is now working on the development of a preclinical candidate in close collaboration with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
Nicolas Willand, co-winner, emphasizes: "This award recognizes ten years of collaborative research in the region and highlights an innovative approach to treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which could quickly offer thousands of patients a therapeutic alternative."
The price of innovation
The Innovation Award, created in 2009 by Universal Biotech, a subsidiary of the Universal Medica group, aims to promote the most innovative Medtech and Biotech companies in the life sciences field. This year, 259 projects in 21 different therapeutic areas were submitted by researchers of 38 nationalities. This year's seven finalists were selected by a panel of 11 international experts. Switzerland's BioVersys in the Biotech category and the US's PathMaker Neurosystems International in the Medtech category were declared the winners of the 2016 edition and received their awards on October 3 at the Maison de la Chimie during the "Innovation Days."