French biotech company Gemacbio is a specialist in the immunochemistry of small (less than 1000 Dalton) molecules with expertise in innovative linkage of small molecules on larger ones
The company was founded in 2001 to take advantage of fifteen years of work by Michel Gefford on these small molecules.
With the strength of sixteen highly skilled researchers, it creates biological diagnosis and prognosis tools to decode and follow the development of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, and severe arthritis.
This information allows doctors to prescribe means to offset the effects of the diseases.
The company shows a substantial long-term commitment to innovative diagnostics and therapies development.
As a creator of in-house biological diagnosis and prognosis tools, the company has developed various in vitro diagnostic (IVD) kits for pathologies such as multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and breast cancer.
Gemacbio identified profiles of specific biomarkers in the serum of patients affected by MS, and is currently launching MSdiag, a world first in MS monitoring.
Gemacbio also develops therapeutic drugs to go beyond monitoring.
The company is in Phase II clinical trial in Europe for a drug to treat the secondary progressive form of MS (SP-MS) that would help to control and delay the disease's progression.
Its goal is to move more molecules to clinical stage from its proprietary pipeline.
The company's portfolio includes an exclusive range of antibodies against small molecules (biomarkers used for research purposes) to see what chemicals are present in the brain, for example.
These antibodies, developed in house, are exported to customers in the pharmaceutical and food processing industries in the USA, Europe, and Japan.
To date the company spends four times its turnover on research each year, a figure that should go down to three times in 2004, and to 30% in three years. "Molecules development needs expensive subcontracting, but our investors knew what to expect when we started," states Thibault de la Riviere, the company's president.
The company is currently seeking business contacts in both the United States and Canada.