EU backs aid for French personalised medicine project

Commentary - November 2008
Ian Schofield

Ian Schofield looks at a new French government-backed project that could lead to new ways of diagnosing and treating cancer and rare genetic diseases.

The European Commission recently gave the French state-owned bank for small and medium-sized enterprises, OSEO, the go-ahead to make available €89.5 million in grants and repayable loans to a French personalised medicine R&D initiative called ADNA.

If the research is successful, the commission believes it will have "major implications" for a range of diseases and treatments. After weighing up the various aspects of the programme, it decided that there was no reason under EU competition rules why the state aid should not be granted.

ADNA (Advanced Diagnostics for New therapeutic Approaches) is an ambitious, nine-year programme aimed at developing personalised medicine for infectious diseases, cancer and rare genetic diseases by combining new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

It is being co-ordinated by Mérieux Alliance, a holding company that comprises five healthcare firms including the Strasbourg-based biotechnology company, Transgene, and bioMérieux, which specialises in in vitro diagnostics.

The other companies taking part in the programme are Généthon, a not-for-profit biotechnology company developing gene and cell therapies for rare and orphan diseases, and GenoSafe, a contract services organisation specialising in the evaluation of innovative biotherapeutics.

According to the partner companies, ADNA will seek to identify and develop biomarkers that will allow new therapies to be targeted to patients who are most likely to benefit from them. Biomarkers can also help in making an early diagnosis, improving understanding of the progress of a disease, tracking a patient's response to treatment, and developing new diagnostic tests, they note.

The partners will bring a range of specialised projects to the programme, says Philippe Cleuziat, programme manager for ADNA...


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