ImmuPharma awarded EUR400,000 Grant

RNS Number : 6396U

Immupharma PLC

20 October 2014

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

20 OCTOBER  2014

ImmuPharma PLC

ImmuPharma awarded €400,000 grant in support of its pioneering research in

the Bordeaux region of France

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE:IMM), ("ImmuPharma" or the "Company"), the specialist drug discovery and development company, is proud to announce that the French region of Aquitaine (around Bordeaux) has awarded ImmuPharma's subsidiary Ureka a non-refundable grant of approx. €400,000 EUR to develop Ureka's Urelix technology.  The Urelix technology is a way to mimic natural peptides having a helical conformation with artificial residues in order to strengthen this conformation and protect it from enzymatic degradation.

ImmuPharma announced recently that one of the first targets for the Urelix technology is GLP-1, a key peptide in diabetes.  This grant confirms the key role Ureka is playing in the biotechnology landscape of the Bordeaux region through its collaboration with ImmuPharma's longstanding and successful research partner, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique "CNRS" and Bordeaux University's research team incubator, Institut Europeen de Chimie et Biologie, as well as the credibility of its technologies.

Dr Robert Zimmer, ImmuPharma's President and Chief Scientific commented: "We are honoured to have received the grant from the Bordeaux region, not only for the financial support but also importantly for the validation of our innovative research efforts in conjunction with our research partners.  We look forward to announcing more exciting news on our programmes in the coming months."

For further information please contact:

ImmuPharma plc	+ 44 (0) 20 7152 4080
Dimitri Dimitriou, Chief Executive Officer
Dr Robert Zimmer, President and Chief Scientific Officer
Lisa Baderoon, Head of Investor Relations	+ 44 (0) 7721 413496
Panmure, Gordon & Co., NOMAD & Broker	[phone]
Hugh Morgan Fred Walsh Duncan Monteith

Notes to Editors

CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
CNRS is Europe's largest fundamental research institution. It was founded in 1939 and is a government-funded research organization, under the administrative authority of France's Ministry of Research and has over 30,000 employees and an annual budget of over €3 billion. The CNRS has received many prestigious awards and has produced 17 Nobel laureates and 11 Fields Medal award winners.

About University of Bordeaux

University of Bordeaux is an association of higher education institutions in and around Bordeaux, France. Its current incarnation was established 21 March 2007. The group is the largest system of higher education schools in south-western France.

Its research activities contributes to the great medical and scientific advances of the 21st century and structured around 5 key disciplines: neurosciences; public health, society; fundamental biology, with applications to medicine; integrative biology and ecology; health technologies. Research at the University goes well beyond the national framework and its researchers are involved in numerous European and international programmes. In the Campus plan for the future of University of Bordeaux, the biological health division has been identified as one of the site's 'centres of excellence'. This will include close collaboration with the national research organisations  (CNRS, INSERM, INRA, INRIA), with technology device platforms and shared infrastructures, making Bordeaux one of France's leading centres of biomedical research.

IECB - Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie

IECB is an international and interdisciplinary research team incubator, placed under the joint authority of the CNRS, INSERM and the University of Bordeaux. It was created in 1998 with the support of the Aquitaine Regional Council and moved in 2003 into a 6500m² building, located in Pessac, on the campus of the University of Bordeaux.

Today, IECB is the largest research team incubator approved by the "Cellule Hôtels à Projets" of the CNRS. 15 research teams, accounting for almost 150 researchers, technicians and students, are working on site every day.

Support services are provided to IECB teams through the UMS3033/US001, a dedicated unit which brings together services in administration, infrastructure and informatics as well as IECB's technology platforms in Structural Biology and Analytical and Preparative Techniques.

INSERM : The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale

INSERM, a French biomedical and public health research institution was created in 1964, and is a public institution with a scientific and technical vocation under the dual auspices of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Research. It was created as a successor to the French National Institute of Health.

INSERM consists of 339 research units, run by 6500 permanent staff members. Eighty percent of INSERM research units are embedded in research hospitals of French universities.

GLP-1 : Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist

Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonistsor GLP-1 agonists are a class of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), enhances glucose-dependent insulin secretion following its release into the circulation from the gut. GLP-1 receptor agonists enhance glucose-dependent insulin secretion by the pancreatic beta-cell, suppress inappropriately elevated glucagon secretion, and slow gastric emptying. The GLP1 target has a market potential of more than $10bn according to an analyst report (Research and Markets August 2011).

 

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