DEINOVE passes the first milestone of the AGIR programm and receives €1.5m from Bpifrance


DEINOVE passes the first milestone of the AGIR programm
and receives €1.5m from Bpifrance

  • The robotic platform for extracting and screening antibiotic activities from bacterial strains is now operational for the analysis of several hundred strains monthly;
  • Bpifrance paid €1.5m to DEINOVE as part of the first milestone payment of the AGIR Programme.

DEINOVE (Euronext Growth Paris: ALDEI), a French biotech company that uses a disruptive approach to develop innovative antibiotics and bio-based active ingredients for cosmetics and nutrition, announces that it has successfully completed the first key milestone of the AGIR program - Antibiotics against Resistant Infectious Germs - which is supported by the Investments for the Future Program. This milestone triggered the payment of €1.5m.

The AGIR program aims to explore the antimicrobial potential of rare bacterial strains with the objective of identifying new antibiotic structures and developing innovative treatments to address the health challenge of increasing antimicrobial resistance.

The goal for DEINOVE is to accelerate the screening of antibiotic activities of multiple strains under various conditions in order to quickly detect new antimicrobial structures. The first stage of the AGIR program led to the development of a robotic platform for extracting and screening strains. The high-tech equipment has been consolidated and the experimental protocols validated.

"With our robotic platform, we now have a unique tool to explore the potential of many rare microorganisms, both from our proprietary library, our targeted collection activities, and samples provided by our research partners1. First bacterial extracts of interest have been identified and are currently being dereplicated2, in order to identify the molecule that is causing the antibiotic activity and verify its innovative character. We want to move fast because antibiotic resistance is progressing rapidly throughout the world and represents a major danger to mankind with projections on deaths amounting to 10 million from 2050 onwards3," says Georges GAUDRIAULT, Scientific Director of DEINOVE.

The division Next-generation anti-infectives which is one of DEINOVE's strategic pillars was initially developed by DEINOBIOTICS, a subsidiary wholly-owned by DEINOVE. A decision was taken to merger DEINOBIOTICS into DEINOVE through a total asset transfer on November 1, 2018, after which DEINOBIOTICS was removed from the Trade and Companies Register.

ABOUT THE AGIR PROGRAM

The AGIR program – Antibiotics Against Resistant Infectious Germs – was selected in 2017 by the Investments for the Future Program and receives from Bpifrance a financial support of €14.6m over 5 years.

AGIR, a platform dedicated to the search for unprecedented antibiotic structures from rare bacterial strains

The AGIR program aims to explore a wide-ranging biodiversity, mainly rare micro-organisms in order to identify and develop a portfolio of drug candidates.

While the world lacks new antibiotics, research is still predominantly focused on a small number of micro-organisms of interest or on the construction by chemical synthesis of molecules derived from existing drugs.

Conversely, the AGIR program is developing new methods of collection, culture, evaluation of the antibiotic potential of rare bacterial strains, and optimization of the molecules of interest.

The AGIR program is run with the Charles Viollette Institute which brings its expertise in microbial and enzymatic engineering as well as identification of molecules.

An ambitious collaborative project strengthened by targeted strategic partnerships to broaden the scope of research

Capitalizing on its technology that allows it to automate and accelerate the analysis of large quantities of strains, DEINOVE aims to maximize the opportunities to discover new antibiotic structures by expanding its field of research beyond its own bacterial library.

The Company has entered into partnerships with several companies, including bioMérieux and Naicons, with portfolios of diverse strains collected as part of their pharmaceutical activities.

 

ABOUT DEINOVE

DEINOVE is a French biotechnology company, committed to innovate in a radical way, in order to help meet the challenges of antibiotic resistance and the transition to a sustainable production model for the cosmetics and nutrition industries.

DEINOVE has developed a unique and comprehensive expertise in the field of rare bacteria that it can decipher, culture, and optimize to disclose the untapped potential and induce them to produce biobased molecules with activities of interest on an industrial scale. To do so, DEINOVE has been building and documenting since its creation an unparalleled biodiversity bank that it exploits thanks to a unique technological platform in Europe.

DEINOVE is organized around two areas of expertise:

  • ANTIBIOTICS, new-generation anti-infectives: DEINOVE is preparing to enter a first antibiotic candidate into Phase II. The Company is also pursuing the systematic exploration of biodiversity to supply its portfolio with new leads, drawing notably on partnerships with Naicons and bioMérieux (AGIR program supported by Bpifrance).
  • BIOACTIVES, Active ingredients of natural origin with cosmetics as the first market and potential in nutrition and health: DEINOVE already markets a first innovative active ingredient, a second in partnership with Greentech, while two others are in development with Oléos (Hallstar Group). It also runs a program in animal nutrition with Groupe Avril. Several other partnerships are also ongoing.

Within the Euromedecine science park located in Montpellier, DEINOVE employs 62 employees, mainly researchers, engineers, and technicians, and has more than 300 patent applications internationally. The Company has been listed on EURONEXT GROWTH® since April 2010.

CONTACTS

Investors
Coralie Martin
Communication, Marketing and Investor Relations
Ph.: +33 (0)4 48 19 01 60
coralie.martin@deinove.com

Media
ALIZE RP
Aurore Gangloff / Catherine Mégélas
Ph.: +33 (0)1 44 54 36 66
deinove@alizerp.com

 




1 DEINOVE has initiated research collaborations with the Italian biotech company Naicons and the diagnostic specialist bioMérieux, which provide the Company with a range of diverse strains. Other partnerships of this nature are under discussion.

2 Analytical process of an active mixture to discard known substances

3 https://www.bbc.com/news/health-30416844

 

 

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