Its introduction is planned for early July

For Franco-American biotechnology company DrugAbuse Sciences (DAS), it is timely to enter on Alternext, the alternative market of Euronext. Its introduction is planned for early July. For some time, the trading window is is reopened for the sector and his field of choice, the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction, is becoming a priority for public health in France.

Beyond the fight against smoking, "must be an action plan overall against addictions, which will be presented by the Government in the months to come, stated Jacques Chirac, the April 27 with the presentation of the second national plan to fight against cancer.". We will organize consultations of addictology in hospital services, and this discipline must also find its place in the training of physicians. "The economic issue is size. In France, the medical and social costs of alcohol absorbs approximately 1.5 of GDP, compared to 0.15 for drugs and 1 for tobacco. In the United States, engulfed by the addictions expenditure represents 3.5 of GDP.

Previously considered a social evil, alcohol began to be recognized, twenty years after the depression, as a genuine neurological illness. In the same way that researchers have discovered the essential role of serotonin in depression, they have now a better understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms which lead to dependence. Where the emergence of a market leading to more effective drugs as existing alternative where DrugAbuse or treatment especially us pharmaceutical groups, such as Forest Laboratories, Schering-Plough or Alkermes. He also obtained last April, the green light from the Food and Drug Administration for injectable product to release, similar to the lighthouse of DAS treatment.

"Our goal is to confirm, by a new study of phase III, the effectiveness of our main product, the Depot Naltrexone, on the criterion of abstinence, which is not the case of Vivitrol.". "This should position us favourably on the American and European markets," commented Patrick Langlois, Chairman of the Board of Directors of DrugAbuse Sciences, who was Vice-President of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Aventis.

One injection per month

You need to know that oral Naltrexone already exists on the market in the form of taking daily pills, which requires a discipline that is not compatible with the psychological state of patients with alcohol or drug addiction. Hence its ineffectiveness and the therapeutic benefit of the new injectable formulation of DAS, to delay effect, which will be administered to patients, once a month, under medical control. At the request of the FDA, with which the company has already signed a memorandum of understanding, a new clinical phase III will start in the United States, in early 2007, to definitively validate this criterion determining total abstinence (no taking of alcohol during the six-month follow-up period).

While waiting for the placing on the market of its flagship, scheduled for the year 2009, drug DrugAbuse Sciences, which has already raised some 70 million euros from venture capital since its creation, in 1994, by Philippe Pouletty, has need for financial resources estimated between 25 and 30 million euros, for industrial investments and ensure that this new phase III. Introduction on the stock exchange on Alternext, via a private placement subscribed by institutional investors specialized, the company hopes to obtain approximately EUR 20 million. An envelope that it has to be completed by the signing of a partnership with a pharmaceutical for its first product group, and obtaining grants or loans.