Hybrigenics acquires Vit D analog inecalcitol

French biotechnology group Hybrigenics SA has acquired a license for the worldwide exclusive rights to inecalcitol, a synthetic analog of vitamin D, for all clinical indications. The Paris-based firm intends to focus on an oral formulation to develop inecalcitol in cancer indications, such as advanced androgen-independent prostate cancer, and expects this acquisition to rapidly move its R&D pipeline towards clinical development.

The compound was discovered by a team of scientists from the Catholic University of Leuven and the University of Gent, both based in Belgium, and then developed up to Phase II in psoriasis by topical administration by Theramex, an affiliate of German drugmaker Merck KGaA. As part of the deal, Hybrigenics will continue the drug's development in this indication. The study of inecalcitol in other conditions, such as hyperparathyroidism, will be partnered, while cancer indications will be pursued by the French firm alone.

Vitamin D analogs are well known for their antiproliferative properties on psoriatic skin cells, but also on a wide variety of cancer cells. However, their therapeutic use has often been limited by hypercalcemia, a major physiological effect of natural vitamin D. The firm noted that inecalcitol has a much lower hypercalcemic activity in vivo (100-200 times less than calcitriol, the active metabolite of vitamin D), and yet shows a more than 10-fold stronger inhibition of cancer cell growth in vitro.