Lupuzor's Founder Dr Slyviane Muller Awarded Medal

RNS Number : 1580R

Immupharma PLC

25 June 2015

 

ImmuPharma PLC

                                                                                                                                                                 25 JUNE 2015

Lupuzor's Founder, Dr Slyviane Muller - Awarded Medal of Innovation from CNRS

for Lupuzor™

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE:IMM), ("ImmuPharma" or the "Company"), the specialist drug discovery and development company is delighted to announce that Dr Sylviane Muller the key inventor of Lupuzor™ and Research Director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ("CNRS"), has received "The CNRS Medal of Innovation"  for her discoveries made on the mechanism of action of Lupuzor™ and its applications to other autoimmune diseases.

The CNRS Medal of Innovation, created in 2011, rewards outstanding scientific research with innovative applications in the technological, therapeutical and societal fields, thus promoting French scientific research. Every year, a jury hands out up to five medals to researchers and engineers, either from CNRS or within other research organizations, universities and higher-education institutions, or to industrial partners involved in research initiatives.

Lupuzor™ (also known as Rigerimod, IPP-201101 and P140), is ImmuPharma's lead compound for the treatment of Lupus, (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or "SLE"), a chronic, potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease. Lupuzor^TM has been granted Fast Track status by the US FDA and approved to start Phase III trials under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) due to its strong safety and efficacy profile. ImmuPharma is now working with Simbec-Orion Group Limited a leading international contract research organisation for the execution of ImmuPharma's Pivotal Phase III clinical study of Lupuzor™.

This award for Dr Muller follows on from former recognition of her works in the field of Lupus and other autoimmune diseases where she received the CNRS silver medal in 2009 and was awarded Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by President Sarkozy in 2010. A very large part of her discoveries in the Lupuzor field were financially supported by CNRS, Robert Zimmer privately and later by ImmuPharma. Sylviane is also one of the first co-founders of the precursor of ImmuPharma just after it was founded by Robert Zimmer in 2002.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

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

Notes to Editors

ImmuPharma PLC 

ImmuPharma is a pharmaceutical company listed since 2006 on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE:IMM), focusing on developing novel medicines with high sales potential in specialist markets with serious unmet need. ImmuPharma has five drug candidates in development, two platform technologies and a multitude of patents and IP.  ImmuPharma is led by a commercially focused Board and management team with extensive experience. For more information please go to: www.immupharma.com

Lupuzor^TM

Lupuzor^TM also referred to as rigerimod or P140 is ImmuPharma's lead compound and a potential treatment for lupus (or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus), a chronic, potentially life-threatening auto-immune disease. Lupuzor^TM has a novel mechanism of action aimed at modulating the body's immune system so that it does not attack healthy cells, without causing adverse side effects.  It has the potential to halt the progression of the disease in a substantial proportion of patients.

Lupuzor^TM has been granted Fast Track status by the US FDA and approved to start Phase III under Special Protocol Assessment (SPA).  This SPA was subsequently amended due to its strong safety and efficacy profile to allow for a reduced number of patients in the pivotal Phase III trial thereby reducing the projected cost of development considerably. ImmuPharma is now working with Simbec-Orion Group Limited a leading international contract research organisation for the execution of ImmuPharma's Pivotal Phase III clinical study of Lupuzor™.

Commercial Opportunity

Current drugs either have serious side effects or have limited effectiveness. GSK's Benlysta's approval paves the way for Lupuzor™ (first Lupus drug approved in over 50 years). There are an estimated 1.5 million patients in US, Europe and Japan. The target price per patient is estimated to be around $10,000 -$20,000 per year. For more information on Lupuzor™ please visit: (www.lupuzor.com)

Dr. Sylviane Muller, Research Director at CNRS & Co-founder of ImmuPharma France

Sylviane Muller is a distinguished class research director in the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the Strasbourg University, in charge of the chair Therapeutic immunology. Dr Muller is deputy director of the CNRS Molecular and cellular biology Institute (IBMC) in Strasbourg (France), Chair and Director of the CNRS Unit entitled Immunopathology and therapeutic chemistry, and Head and coordinator of the Drug discovery Center for cancer and inflammation Medalis awarded 'Laboratory of Excellence'. Dr Muller defended a doctoral degree in Molecular Biology in 1978 and a thesis in Science in 1984 in Strasbourg. Dr Muller was a post-doctoral fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Immunobiology in Freiburg (Germany). Dr Muller is the co-author of 249 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 97 review articles and chapters. Her scientific activity has led to ~30 patents (most are licenced). Dr Muller is the co-founder of two companies, namely Neosystem (1986) and ImmuPharma (2002). Dr Muller is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals and of international scientific Societies giving numerous lectures in Europe and the US, and participating in many international meetings as an invited speaker. Dr Muller co-organized ten international congresses in the field of autoimmunity and lupus. In recognition of her works Dr Muller has received the CNRS Silver Medal 2009 and the CNRS Innovation Medal 2015. She was awarded Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by President Sarkosy in 2010.

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. CNRS was ranked N°1 according to the new "Nature Index" classification before the Chinese Academia of Sciences, The Max Plank Institute and the University of Harward (Boston).

 

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