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Advanced BioDesign announces 14.3 million euros of additional funding from its main shareholder Xerys Invest

Two months after the start of "ODYSSEY”, the first-in-human clinical trial targeting acute myeloid leukaemia, Advanced BioDesign has signed an agreement with its historical shareholder, Xerys Invest, for a capital injection of 14.3 million euros.

Lyon, February 2, 2023 – Advanced BioDesign (ABD), a French biotech company specialising in the development of a new family of targeted therapies against cancers, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Xerys Invest, its shareholder since 2013, for a €14.3 million capital injection. This significant financial support is in addition to the €20 million already raised from Xerys Invest.
This additional funding for ABD comes two months after the launch of its "ODYSSEY" Phase I (First-In-Human) clinical trial targeting acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), one of the most common and severe leukaemias in adults over 60 years of age, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 20%. The first patient recruitments have been underway since November 2022 in three investigation centres (APHM in Marseille, HCL in Lyon and Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris).
This substantial capital increase, which will be paid in successive instalments, will enable ABD to continue their multicenter clinical trial, which aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of its drug candidate ABD-3001 (NCT05601726) administered in monotherapy in patients who are refractory to or have relapsed following standard treatments and for whom therapeutic options are limited and prognosis is poor. At the same time, these funds will help prepare the Phase II clinical trial for ABD-3001.

Just a few days before World Cancer Day (4th of February), this fundraising from Xerys Invest will also support the pharmaceutical development of other molecules from Advanced BioDesign's R&D platform, thus allowing the company to pursue its research programs targeting cancers resistant to current therapies.

As a reminder, the ODYSSEY study is organised according to an adaptive design, integrating a first part with a single ascending dose, lasting 12 months on 6 cohorts of patients, followed by a second part of an equivalent duration, where 3 cohorts of patients will undergo a complete treatment cycle of four weeks. This design will provide initial efficacy results and determine the best treatment procedure. An increase in the patient cohort for this final stage will be organized to validate the estimated effective dose (6 to 9 additional patients). In total, between 30 and 70 patients will be recruited in 3 investigation centers located in Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

Ismail Ceylan, CEO of Advanced BioDesign, stated: "The start of our first-in-human ODYSSEY study and our very ambitious roadmap for the next few years are good reasons to be delighted with this capital injection from Xerys Invest. I would particularly like to thank the management board of Xerys Invest for renewing its confidence and support through this new agreement, which will allow us to pursue our cancer research programs with confidence.”

Olivier Ossipoff, Chairman of Xerys Invest, added: "The continued support of Xerys Invest demonstrates the confidence placed in Advanced BioDesign and all its teams. This additional financing is in line with our investment strategy which aims to support French biotech companies in the long term while giving them all the necessary means to meet public health challenges.”

About ABD-3001 and DIMATE

ABD-3001 is the pharmaceutical form of DIMATE which targets and inhibits a detoxification system present in cancer cells. This detoxification system is highly active in most tumour and leukaemia cells, allowing them to survive the inevitable metabolic disturbances that occur during the cancer process. By inhibiting this cell protection system, DIMATE poisons and kills cancer cells, without harming healthy cells. In most cancers, there is also a population of cells, called "cancer stem cells", which are usually highly resistant to the cytotoxic effects of current anti-cancer drugs. This resistance to treatment appears to be the main cause for regular cancer relapses. In the studies conducted by the Advanced BioDesign team, DIMATE also destroys these cancer stem cells. Because of this specific property, which results from its molecular mechanism of action, DIMATE could be a particularly important drug in preventing cancer recurrence. DIMATE’s mechanism of action should enhance the anti-tumour action of all redox-activating drugs and therapies, such as platinum salts and gamma rays, overcoming primary resistance to these treatments.

About Xerys Invest
Xerys Invest is a French investment company which primarily invests in the healthcare & Life Sciences, renewable energy and GreenTech sectors. As such, Xerys Invest supports companies in industries undergoing major transformations to address economic, environmental and societal challenges and which have great ambitions for their growth and international expansion. In its market, Xerys Invest stands out as much for its modus operandi and the strategic and operational support it provides to portfolio companies, as for the range of à la carte investment opportunities offered to investors and for its close relations with them, or its sector-based approach. Also, Xerys Invest has considerable sector expertise, bolstered by a strategic committee made up of recognized specialists and experts in key sectors.

For more information visit www.xerys.com or find us on LinkedIn @Xerys.

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