Private research

With a specific location of a part of their research activities - including oncology - the site Oncopole, Laboratories Pierre Fabre participate in this common approach for fighting cancer.

The new Pierre Fabre center research and development (CRDPF) consists primarily of: 

    - The Centre for Research in Experimental Oncology (CROE)
   -  The Pierre Fabre Development Centre 
   -  Clinical Pharmacokinetics Unit of Pierre Fabre Oncology
   -  The CNRS/Pierre Fabre mixed unit (Unit and research service No 3388)

Research projects

Alongside the CNRS, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, INSERM and Institut Claudius Regaud, the Pierre Fabre Research and Development is committed to the CAPTOR project entitled "University Hospital of Excellence cluster” funded under the "Investment for the Future" program.

Through two projects in direct partnership with public research, Pierre Fabre Laboratories are fully involved in the CAPTOR project, dedicated to the "pursuit of targets and active molecules"

• The TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor) Project: Looking for a targeted therapy to treat a form of blood cancer called "anaplastic large cell lymphoma" (ALCL).The aim is to target the mutated ALK protein, present in 85% of ALCL, and characterize inhibitors.
  This project brings together the CRDPF, researchers from academic and clinical areas (Toulouse Purpan Pathophysiology Centre) and GTP Technology (Biotech).
  Today in preclinical phase, the Pierre Fabre molecule must enter the clinical phase in 2013.
  Contact: Christian Bailly, Pierre Fabre Centre - Research & Development, Tel: 00 33 534506000
• Cancer epigenetic regulation Pharmacochemistry a scientific thematic by the Unit and Research Service (USR) 3388.
  The project addresses fundamental and innovative aspects (new targets, new mechanisms) while maintaining an applied dimension (search for active ingredients and drug candidates) with a vast scope of application (oncology).
  Contact: Paola B. Arimondo, USR 3388 Research Director, Centre for Pierre Fabre Research & Development , secdir@etac.cnrs.fr 00 33 5 34 50 62 07

 

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« A strong asset of the site is the campus spirit and its openness to translational research for all stakeholders, both public and private, involved in research and treatment against cancer. »

Liberto Yubero, director of the Pierre Fabre Research Institute

 

 

Installed in the region since 1965, the R&D site in Toulouse today hosts research units and development and technology platforms.They gather a set of activities converging towards the discovery of innovative therapeutic solutions. The center includes a large number of expertise: synthetic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pharmacology, biotechnology, metabolism and pharmacokinetics, drug design, computing, biostatistics ... to identify therapeutic targets, validate and suggest new drug candidates for development.

Learn more about the Toulouse Research Center at sanofi.fr 

Solid expertise rooted in France

Sanofi has significantly contributed to the improving the therapeutic management of cancer in the past 50 years. The site of Vitry, France, is with the Cambridge site (Massachusetts, USA), the world headquarters of Sanofi's Oncology Division. This central position of the Vitry site within the Division, together with the French heritage of Sanofi in oncology, today gives France a leading role in the Group's activities in oncology.

Innovation is a major focus

Develop new drugs against cancer: a major research and development priority at Sanofi. Founded in 2010, the Oncology division conducts research on new therapeutic targets involved in the development, growth and spread of cancers. Anticancer are developing with different mechanisms of action: anti-angiogenic agents, monoclonal antibodies… they target cancers for which current treatment options are inadequate. To accelerate their development, the Oncology Division combines biotechnology companies, major cancer centers and academic excellence teams worldwide.

A network of scientific partners in France

• As part of its agreement with Aviesan (Alliance for Life Sciences and Health) [ www.aviesan.fr/en] , Sanofi signed in 2012 for a period of 3 years, a research collaboration with the Claudius Régaud Institute in Toulouse and Inserm Transfert. Objectives:
     - Pursue several complementary approaches targeting the tumor microenvironment and the mechanisms involved in cancer: angiogenesis, modulation of the immune response, plasticity of macrophages and mesenchymal cells, integrity of the extracellular matrix,
     - Discover new therapeutic targets and innovative treatments tailored to patients.
• Another partnership in clinical research, with the Gustave Roussy Institute, the first center dedicated to the fight against cancer in Europe. Its purpose:
     - The emergence of new targeted drugs
     - Customize medical treatments for patients suffering cancer based on molecular abnormalities detected in their tumor.

Des collaborations internationales

In April 2013, two articles by Sanofi Toulouse teams were published in Cancer Cell, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in oncology:

• Molecular Mechanism of SSR128129E, an Extracellularly Acting, Small-Molecule, Allosteric Inhibitor of FGF Receptor Signaling.
• Inhibition of Tumor Angiogenesis and Growth by a Small-Molecule Multi-FGF Receptor Blocker with Allosteric Properties.

Based on a work carried out for several years, these two publications describe the mechanism of action of FGF receptor allosteric inhibitor, its biological activity on tumor growth and angiogenesis.  Each includes studies conducted in collaboration with prestigious international academic teams:

   - Professor Peter Carmeliet: VIB, Leuven, Belgium 
   - Professor Harald Schwalbe: University of Frankfurt, Germany
   - Professor Francesco Gervasio: National Center for Cancer Research (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
   - Professor Tom L. Blundell: University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Improve support for people with cancer, and their families

Help patients and their families to understand and better manage the disease is essential to better manage cancer. That is why, beyond the development of new treatments, Sanofi is committed to supporting and assisting cancer patients. How? Through partnerships established with patient associations.

 

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« Our ability to offer innovative therapeutic solutions largely depends on the links we have with patients, researchers and healthcare professionals. The Oncopole makes these links possible »

M. Richard Alonso
Director of Sanofi

 

 

Cyclopharma is a company specializing in radiopharmacy. Created in August 2000 by Messrs Meyniel, Salin and Deloye, all inspired by the evolution, the advancement and the new perspectives offered by nuclear medicine. Public health challenges were at the origin of this company's inception, while national and international economic perspectives contributed to give it its substance.

The Cyclopharma Project

In recent years, the simultaneous use of TEP technology and medical cyclotrons has shown the great interest of this functional and innovative imaging technique.
The project is to implement a network of several cyclotrons (9 currently in France, the first network in our territory) of short life Isotope in pharmaceutical sites and close to medical services.
These laboratories are specialized to produce doses of GLUCOTEP 18FDG to be quickly delivered to nuclear medicine units. Each location is selected based on the medical needs and easiness of delivery.
Production is organized in a network. The advantage?

• Ensure that users are compatible with the operation of services delivery,
• Ensure continuity of deliveries in case of incident,
• Facilitate maintenance (organized with a qualified technician) and management (qualified and centralized staff for administrative order taking).

On-site presence: a real asset

The French territory network is related to the specificity of the isotope used: loss of half of its activity every 2 hours. Produce ever closer to users is thus the main constraint. It is now no longer necessary thanks to our presence on the Langlade site.

 

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« Cyclopharma Laboratories company specializing in the manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals - (eg fludeoxyglucose (18F) used in nuclear medicine, including oncology and neurology. Distributor of medical devices (eg camera for cardiac exploration). Actor in R&D and manufacture of radiopharmaceuticals experimental drugs »

Jean-Bernard DELOYE,
Director of Cyclopharma laboratories 

 

 

Evotec is a global high-quality provider in the drug discovery field and has a 21-year corporate history. The Company’s headquarters are located in Hamburg, Germany. Additional major operating sites exist in UK, Germany, and USA and since 2015 in France, Toulouse. Evotec acquired Sanofi's scientific operations and related employees at the Toulouse R&D site, Evotec (France) and entered into a five-year-multi-component strategic alliance with Sanofi.

Evotec operates worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry’s need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuroscience, pain, metabolic diseases as well as oncology, inflammation and infectious diseases. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 70 partnered product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec’s partners consist of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, many biotechnology and midsized pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, foundations and not-for-profit organisations.

Innovation and efficiency

The site in Toulouse is to be a key contributor for future growth and success from Evotec to grow their offering to deliver more superior integrated projects and will create more flexible deal structures and continue to grow its portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products. It serves as Evotec’s European compound management center and hosts the company`s oncology center of excellence.

Evotec has established excellent relations with many top academic institutions such as Harvard, Yale or Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that have led to a series of collaborations. Evotec offers a business model that is good for academic as well as for Pharma partners and therefore serves a basis for sustainability and growth. One strategic goal for Evotec is to be the bridge between academia and Pharma, helping identify innovative assets and accelerate them truly capital-efficiently to a position of partnering with Evotec’s systematic unbiased, comprehensive and first-in-class and best-in class infrastructure. As a result of the multi-component strategic alliance between Evotec and Sanofi, the companies established the “French Academic Bridge” which aims to accelerate the translation of promising cutting-edge science from French academic institutions into pharmaceutical product candidates. In this joint effort, Evotec scouts and incubates projects generated in France under its EVT Innovate strategy.

Capabilities and capacities located in Toulouse are

• Compound management
• Hit identification
• In vitro & in vivo oncology
• Medicinal chemistry
• ADME & PK
• Early drug formulation & Solid form screening
• Cell, protein & antibody production

 

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« Evotec could leverage scientific expertise and broad portfolio of drug discovery and development services to advance the promising science of Oncopole and deliver greater medical innovation to the Pharma industry. »

Craig Johnstone, Directeur Général Evotec (France)