09/2004 Press Release

Study Points to Integrase as Possible Target for Novel Drugs

PARIS – 29 September 2004 – BioAlliance Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the field of drug resistance, today announced that a research team, including the company, reported preclinical data demonstrating that styrylquinolines (SQs), a new family of inhibitors being developed by BioAlliance, specifically and efficiently inhibit nuclear import of integrase, thereby blocking viral replication of HIV-1 infected cells. The research team came from the Institut Jacques Monod, the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), as well as BioAlliance Pharma. The study was reported in Molecular Pharmacology (Vol. 66, No. 4: 783-788, 2004).

The study is significant because it suggests a way of combating the emergence of drug-resistant strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). These have arisen through the use of HIV-1 inhibitors such as reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors. For cell infection to take place, retroviral integration has to occur. This is the process that stably inserts the DNA copy of the viral genomic RNA into the host cell genome. The process is catalyzed by the HIV integrase enzyme. Prior to this step, this enzyme is involved in the assembly of a stable pre-integration complex required for import of viral DNA across the nuclear cellular envelope. Since integrase has no direct cellular counterpart, it represents an attractive target for the treatment of HIV infection and supports the introduction of integrase inhibitors as a potential weapon in the fight against drug resistant viral strains. 

In research reported earlier this year (Journal of Virology, Vol. 78, No. 11: 5728-5736, 2004), the research team demonstrated for the first time that integrase targeting molecules may act prior to integration and affect the accumulation of DNA during reverse transcription. In the study reported today, the investigators show that SQs block the nuclear import of integrase, suggesting that the inhibition of late cDNA accumulation evidenced in the first paper could be related to a modification of the pre-integration complex activity.

“By demonstrating the inhibiting role of SQs in the nuclear import of viral integrase, the study sheds light on this new family of integrase inhibitors while also pointing towards SQs as a major tool for the identification of the elusive integrase import factor,” said Catherine Dargemont, Ph.D., Director of Research, the Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, and lead investigator for the study.

“BioAlliance Pharma welcomes the results of this study as it confirms the value of our NCE program and, in this particular case, that our work on styrylquinolines has a promising future,” said Dominique Costantini, president and CEO of BioAlliance Pharma.

About BioAlliance Pharma

BioAlliance Pharma is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics and predictive assays in the field of drug resistance, targeting cancer and infectious diseases, including in particular HIV. The company has a balanced portfolio of products and proprietary technologies in various stages of development, from preclinical research to a product currently on the market. To supply its extensive pipeline of products, BioAlliance maintains a unique network of alliances with leading academic investigators from French research institutions, including the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) and the Institut Pasteur, among others.

The company’s lead product within its adhesive technology program, Miconazole-Lauriad(R) 50 mg Bioadhesive Buccal tablet, is currently in two Phase III trials in Europe for treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis in cancer and HIV patients. An IND to conduct a Phase III trial in the US is on track for filing later this year. A Phase I/II trial in hepatocellular carcinoma utilizing the company’s Doxorubicin-Transdrug(TM) delivery technology is ongoing in Europe.

For additional company background, click here.

Company Contact

Richard Keatinge
Vice President, Business Development
BioAlliance Pharma SA
Tel : +33 (0) 1 45 58 76 00
richard.keatinge@bioalliancepharma.com

Media Contact
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Andrew Lloyd
Tel : +44 1 273 675100
Gilles Petitot
Tel : +33 1 56 54 07 00