French biotechs establish Platine Pharma Services
To provide immunomonitoring services to the healthcare industry
French biotechnology firms Innate Pharma and Transgene have created Platine Pharma Services, a new company providing immunomonitoring services. The companies will have joint ownership of the new firm, which is based in Lyon, France. They will also be its first clients.
Platine Pharma Services offers immunomonitoring services to the healthcare industry for the preclinical and clinical development of prophylactic and therapeutic drug candidates, notably those with immune modulation activity such as vaccines, monoclonal antibodies or cytokines.
The company starts with 12 staff and three platforms in biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, as well as flow cytometry, ELISPOT and ELISA equipment.
Platine currently runs immunomonitoring services for IPH 21, a monoclonal antibody programme developed by Innate Pharma, based in Marseille and for TG4040, a therapeutic vaccine developed by Transgene, of Illkirch Graffenstaden.
‘With Platine, Innate Pharma and Transgene combine 40 years of expertise in the field of immunotherapeutics and measure of cellular response. As founders and first clients, we are convinced of the relevance and added value of Platine,’ said Hervé Brailly, ceo of Innate Pharma.
Philippe Archinard, ceo of Transgene, added: ‘We would like to thank all the collaborative partners as well as the public funding bodies which contributed to the creation of Platine. It is now up to Platine’s team to continue to deliver.’
Jacques Berger, previously president of Sanofi-Pasteur France and now chairman of Platine Pharma Services, said: ‘We aim at becoming a European leader in immunomonitoring. We can respond to requests for specific as well as routine tests, from the definition of analytical needs to data analysis. This is a high value added offer in the context of a still fragmented European market.’