Small Firms Emerging In France

France is often seen as unpromising terrain for the growth of small pharmaceutical research companies, but experience is showing the opposite to be the case. The biotechnology company, Genset, raised 500 million French francs ($96.1 million) on the Paris bourse (Marketletter June 17) and now an even smaller company, Syntem, which is active in the development of computer-based molecular modelling, has signed a million-franc research deal with an as-yet unnamed US biotechnology group. The US firm has asked Syntem to improve the design of one of its leading molecules.

Syntem was established a year ago by Michel Kaczorek of the Pasteur Institute and is expected to report sales of some 4 million francs in 1996, based on contract research and sales of peptides to laboratories. Profits are expected in 1998 with an eventual recapitalization in what Mr Kaczorek calls "good financial conditions." A listing in the medium term is not being ruled out.

Syntem currently makes use of 60 scientists based at the Center for Structural Biology and the Center for Biochemical Macromolecular Research in Montpellier, who propose the redesigning of molecules for drug companies. Syntem is considering working towards a position in which it develops its own molecules in key therapeutic areas such as oncology and neurology.