This story originally ran on Oct. 18
French biotech company Hybrigenics this week reported €1.85 million ($2.52 million) in first-half revenues from its proteomics services business, up eight percent from €1.71 million in the first half of 2010.
The firm's overall revenues were €2.04 million, down 2 percent from €2.08 a year ago, as revenues beyond its proteomics services business fell by 49 percent to €190,000 from €370,000 in H1 2010.
Its net loss for H1 was €2.12 million, up 4 percent from €2.01 million the year before.
As of June 30, the company had €1.96 million in net cash.
Hybrigenics has an R&D program aimed at developing treatments for diseases including prostate cancer and psoriasis, but the bulk of its revenues come from its fee-for-service protein interaction work, which is housed within its Hybrigenics Services component — a fully owned subsidiary the company created in July 2010.
This business uses yeast two-hybrid systems to discover novel protein interactions in cells, validate protein interactions, and study the inhibition of interactions between proteins. Clients for these services include firms like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and L'Oreal, as well as academic customers like Harvard and Johns Hopkins University.
Last week, Hybrigenics signed a €4 million licensing and research deal with French pharma company Servier under which it will investigate deubiquitinating enzymes as potential drug targets in cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as well as diseases in neurology, psychiatry, rheumatology, and ophthalmology (GWDN 10/10/2011). Depending on the achievement of certain milestones, it may receive additional payments of €9.5 million for each target that leads to the registration of a new drug.
In September, Hybrigenics received authorization from the French Health Products Safety Agency to start a Phase II clinical trial testing oral inecalcitol, a vitamin D analog, for treating psoriasis.
It also received a €650,000 zero-interest loan from the French innovation agency OSEO to help fund the study, which, according to the company, will be conducted by Jean-Paul Ortonne at University Hospital of Nice and will compare inecalcitol in 40 patients versus placebo in 20 patients.
The company plans to begin the trial before the end of the year.