The News

DIATOS and SERVIER announce oncology research collaboration using the VECTOCELL® technology

17/05/2005

PARIS, FRANCE – May 17, 2005 – Diatos S.A., a Paris-based privately held biopharmaceutical company, and Servier, France’s largest privately owned pharmaceutical company, announced today a Research Collaboration  involving FTE support and a license option to apply the Diatos Vectocell® technology to Servier’s oncology research program in order to enhance the efficacy and safety of a Servier small molecule drug candidate.

The Diatos Peptide Vector (DPV) intra-cellular/intra-nuclear Vectocell® delivery technology allows direct intra-cellular delivery using cell-penetrating peptides and provides access to previously inaccessible intra-cytoplasmic or intra-nuclear targets. Vectocell alters the biodistribution of small molecules, which may result in lower toxicity of therapeutic compounds.  Servier and Diatos have been working together on applications of the Vectocell technology to Servier’s development portfolio prior to entering this agreement.  

“Our proprietary Vectocell® delivery technology is already being used to develop new therapies to treat cancer; and this key collaboration with a pharmaceutical partner is another example of the aptness of our technology in the efficient delivery of small-molecule therapeutics,” said Dr. John Tchelingerian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Diatos. 

“We see a growing need for innovative new technologies that can be applied to products in our development portfolio in order to improve their efficacy and safety.  Diatos’ Vectocell® technology is an exciting technology that may allow us to take forward development programmes that otherwise would be stopped due to a narrow therapeutic index,” commented a Servier spokesperson.

About Servier
Servier is a privately-owned company, established in 1954 by its founder and current Chairman, Jacques Servier, M.D. The Servier Group allocates approximately 25% of its turnover to Research and Development. The Group has 16 000 employees worldwide including 2500 in Research & Development. The Servier Group has 70 subsidiaries and markets it products in 140 countries with its main therapeutic products used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, cancer, and bone and joint diseases. . In the next 18 months Servier is going to make available to the medical profession three innovative pharmaceutical specialties in the field of osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases and treatment of depression. Currently, there are 33 molecules in the Servier R&D pipeline, 20 of which at the preclinical and 13 at the clinical stage of development.

About Diatos
Diatos is a product-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of novel anti-cancer therapies.  The company’s therapeutic candidates DTS-201 and DTS-301, respectively a doxorubicin prodrug and a novel paclitaxel formulation, are planned to enter Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in 2005.  Diatos is also expanding its product pipeline with new compounds that utilize the Diatos Peptide Vector (DPV) intra-cellular/intra-nuclear VectoCell® delivery technology or its Tumor-Selective Prodrug (TSP) technology as well as with in-licensed clinical-stage cancer therapies.  Diatos has entered into research collaboration agreements with several European and US biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for the use of Vectocell® technology.

Founded in 1999 as a spin-off from Institut Pasteur, Diatos has raised 33 million Euros to date from Sofinnova Partners (France), GIMV (Belgium), InterWest Partners (USA), Credit Agricole Private Equity (France), AGF Private Equity (France), Innoven Partenaires (France), Société Générale Asset Management (France), NIF Ventures (Japan), Biotech Fund Flanders (Belgium), Sopartec (Belgium) and Institut Pasteur (France).  Diatos has 43 employees, is headquartered in Paris and has operations in Belgium and the US. 

CONTACTS:
Diatos S.A.     
John Tchelingerian, Ph.D., President & CEO 
c/o Astrid Heinesch,     
Assistant to General Management   
+33 (0)1-53-80-93-62    
jtchelingerian@diatos.com  

Servier
Direction des Relations Extérieures   
et de la Communication Servier
Tel. 01 55 72 66 56
Fax 01 55 72 75 57