Press Release
Diaxonhit and Felicitex Therapeutics, Inc. Announce Global Exclusive License of a Series of Lead-stage Anti-cancer Compounds from Diaxonhit for the Development of Therapeutics against Quiescent Cancer Cells
Paris, France and Cambridge, MA, USA - May 19, 2015
Diaxonhit (Alternext : ALEHT, FR0004054427), a French fully integrated leader in in vitro diagnostics, involved from research to commercialization of specialty diagnostic products in the fields of transplantation, infectious diseases and cancer today announced that it granted an exclusive worldwide license to Felicitex Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery company specializing in discovery and development of cancer treatments and diagnostic assays focused on quiescent cancer cells.
Building upon discoveries made with its SpliceArray(TM) proprietary technology, Diaxonhit developed a unique program targeting the DYRK enzyme, which is involved in several pathogenic pathways related to cell proliferation. Diaxonhit believes this program has a strong potential and found, with Felicitex, a partner who shares the same interest in this innovative approach toward treating cancer. With this agreement, Felicitex acquires the rights for oncology to a lead series of novel small molecule anti-cancer compounds, which are highly active and selective against DYRK as validated by Felicitex in a pancreatic cancer model.
The agreement is the culmination of a thorough due diligence process by both sides, as part of which Felicitex evaluated several members of the lead series in vitro and successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept efficacy in vivo in a pancreatic cancer mouse xenograft model. The molecules are high quality leads, defined by the accepted drug development lead likeness criteria, and provide Felicitex with an opportunity to obtain a clinical lead series and to nominate a candidate for IND-enabling studies in the near future.
Felicitex has paid an up-front fee and is responsible for annual licensing payments. Felicitex will also pay future milestone payments as a product covered by the licensing agreement reaches specific development milestones, and royalty payments, if and when the product is marketed.
Felicitex Therapeutics' technology targets quiescent, non-responsive (resistant to therapy) cancer cells with two therapeutically beneficial outcomes - first making quiescent cancer cells vulnerable to conventional treatments and second preventing cancer cells from surviving in the quiescent state for indeterminate period of time and thereby delaying or eliminating cancer recurrence. Felicitex is focused on the development of treatments for the deadliest and difficult to treat cancers.
Felicitex's scientific team at its Cambridge, MA laboratories will continue to apply its expertise in cancer cell quiescence, anti-cancer drug development, and diagnostic assays, along with Felicitex's discovery partner, Selvita S.A. of Poland, who will utilize its expertise in medicinal and computational chemistry to optimize the acquired lead series.
"Cancer cell quiescence is a major mechanism of cancer resistance and we are pleased and excited to bring Diaxonhit's intellectual property under Felicitex's growing asset base of novel quiescence-active small molecule inhibitors" says Maria Vilenchik, PhD, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director of Felicitex Therapeutics.
"This agreement with Felicitex is a great opportunity for Diaxonhit to value its existing therapeutic assets, such as this DYRK inhibitors program initiated following discoveries made with our unique proprietary genomic technology. It also highlights the high financial potential of these assets through up-front, milestone or royalty payments. We look forward to collaborating with Felicitex, a partner with an innovative approach toward treating cancer, to further advance these molecules in the clinic" concludes Loïc Maurel, CEO of Diaxonhit SA.
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About DIAXONHIT
Diaxonhit (Alternext, FR0004054427, ALEHT) is a French fully integrated leader in in vitro diagnostics, involved from research to commercialization of specialty diagnostic products in the fields of transplantation, infectious diseases and cancer. It is the leader for commercialization in France of HLA tests. With many partnerships and a strong presence in hospitals, Diaxonhit has an extensive commercialization network and a portfolio of proprietary products including Tetanus Quick Stick® and BJI InoPlex in the field of infectious diseases. Each year, the Group invests in R&D more than 15% of its sales to develop new, innovative and proprietary diagnostic tests. Diaxonhit has more than 85 employees based in Paris and the Paris region. The Group is part of the Alternext BPI Innovation, PEA-PME 150 and Next Biotech indices.
For more information, please visit: www.diaxonhit.com
Symbol : ALEHT - ISIN Code: FR0004054427 - Reuters : ALEHT.PA - Bloomberg : ALEHT:FP
About Felicitex Therapeutics, Inc.
Felicitex Therapeutics is a leader in the area of cancer cell quiescence. Felicitex's mission is the discovery and development of chemotherapeutics for the disruption of certain as yet unaddressed cancer cell survival mechanisms. Felicitex develops treatments and diagnostic assays to improve the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of treatments for the deadliest and most resistant to therapy cancers: pancreatic, colorectal, non-small cell lung, and ovarian, among others. Felicitex Therapeutics, founded in 2012, is a privately owned company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with additional laboratories in Watertown, Massachusetts and Business Development in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
More Information is available at www.felicitex.com
About Selvita S.A.
Selvita is a Polish biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of breakthrough medicines to treat oncology, CNS and autoimmune disorders, as well as provision of drug discovery services. It was established in 2007 and currently employs 220 people, including 70 PhDs. Drug discovery clients of Selvita include more than fifty large and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from USA and Europe. Selvita is listed on the GPW main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland (SLV).
More information is available at www.selvita.com
Contacts
DIAXONHIT
Hervé Duchesne de Lamotte, CFO, +33 (0)1 53 94 52 49, herve.delamotte@diaxonhit.com
Felicitex Therapeutics Inc.,
Joseph Funari, Manager of Business Development, josephfunari@prometrics.com
NewCap
Julien Perez, Investors Relations & Financial Communication, +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52, jperez@newcap.fr
Annie-Florence Loyer, Media Relations, +33 (0)1 44 71 98 50, afloyer@newcap.fr
Disclaimer
This press release contains elements that are not historical facts including, without limitation, certain statements about future expectations and other forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated. In addition, DIAXONHIT, its shareholders, and its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties in relation to, statistical data or predictions contained in this press release that were taken or derived from third party sources or industry publications, and such statistical data and predictions are used in this press release for information purposes only. Finally, this press release may be drafted in the French and English languages. If both versions are interpreted differently, the English language version shall prevail.
