€800K Grant supports Large B-cell Lymphoma Project

Therapeutics developer Lead Pharmaceutical (Oss, Netherlands) and French medicinal chemistry and custom synthesis company Oxeltis, have been awarded an €800K ($842K) grant from EUREKA Eurostars for a three year project aimed at developing a first-in-class small molecule therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). This aggressive, fast-growing blood cancer that develops from B-cells in the lymphatic system, affects approximately 115,000 people per year worldwide, of which 50,000 were said to be in Europe and the US

The current first-line treatment for DLBCL, a regimen combining an antibody therapy with four chemotherapy drugs known as R-CHOP, does not cure 30-50% of DLBCL patients, who eventually relapse.

Arthur Oubrie, CSO of Lead Pharma said: “We are delighted that our approach to combat DLBCL has been awarded a Eurostars grant. We look forward to joining forces with Oxeltis, who will bring extra power in organic and medicinal chemistry to the joint project team.”

Stéphane Salamone, chemistry director at Montpellier-based Oxeltis, said: “We are pleased to contribute to Lead Pharma’s innovation in drug discovery, the EPIGENEXT project perfectly matches Oxeltis’ capacity to be a medicinal chemistry partner and is aligned with the company’s strategy to invest in long-term partnerships.

Eurostars is a European program that supports innovative SMEs and project partners (small and medium-sized companies, universities, research organisations and other types of organisations) by funding international collaborative R&D and innovation projects. The Program  is run by EUREKA, an intergovernmental network which involves 37 countries.

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