Cytheris gets $2.4M no interest loan from OSEO

Cytheris SA, a French clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on new therapies for immune modulation, says that France's national agency for industrial innovation has awarded the company a no-interest loan of 1.5 million euros ($2.4 million) to support its ongoing clinical development program in hepatitis C virus.

The OSEO award will provide partial funding for the HCV clinical development program of the company's lead product, recombinant human interleukin-7 (r-hIL-7), a critical growth factor for immune T-cell recovery and enhancement. Clinical trials conducted on more than 75 patients in Europe, the USA and Canada have demonstrated the potential of r-hIL-7 to expand and protect CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, noted the firm, which is currently conducting several international studies of IL-7 in HCV, HIV and cancer.

"These awards are highly competitive and we are delighted that OSEO has singled out Cytheris, not only because of the financial implications but also because the stringent criteria applied in selecting the small number of award winners bring added credibility to our innovative IL-7 investigative product and its potential therapeutic application," said Michel Morre, chief executive of Cytheris. "OSEO funding previously played an instrumental role at the company's foundation in the form of a now fully-reimbursed loan to support the initial IL-7 studies which allowed us to reach the credibility needed to attract venture capital. This new OSEO support provided for our HCV study will partially cover the manufacturing, clinical studies and personnel costs associated with the program, as well as its expansion to include additional clinical sites in Asia," he added.