Unlocking the full potential
of highly potent anticancer drugs
We aim to enhance the best anticancer treatments by increasing their tumor accumulation.
Despite all the efforts in the fight against cancer, some tumors are still resistant to currently available treatments. Highly active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPI) are drugs 100 to 1000 times more active than traditional chemotherapies. Unfortunately, patients cannot benefit from HPAPIs as they distribute homogeneously throughout the body after administration. This limits the dose that can be administered, due to toxicities, and hampers their full potential.
At Imescia we tackle this problem by leveraging our unique polymer prodrug technology that allows an increased tumor accumulation of HPAPIs therefore enhancing their efficacy.
TECHNOLOGY
Delivering the HPAPIs at the tumor site for efficacy with limited side effects.
Our technology consists in a prodrug polymer approach combining three essential elements:
- Drug: we work with the most promising HPAPI that did not reach the clinic due to a limited maximal tolerated dose.
- Polymer: our innovative highly hydrophilic polymer has been tailored to accumulate at the tumor site thanks to its physico-chemical properties.
- Linker: the polymer prodrug as a whole is inactive and does not induce toxicities. The linker is designed to specifically release the drug into the tumor microenvironment, sparing the healthy tissues.
The combination of these three elements limit the toxicities of the HPAPI and allow increasing the maximal tolerated dose. The improvement of the tumor accumulation increases drug concentration inside the tumor thus leading to a better anticancer effect.
Our solution is unique and beyond the state of the art based on 3 criteria:
- Our innovative polymer is non toxic (> 10 000 times less toxic than the drug). No risk of toxicities due to the polymer.
- Our polymers are extremely hydrophilic, we can solubilize even the most insoluble small molecules with short polymer chains. Our vector is smaller than nanoparticles which allows a penetration within the deeper layers of the tumor.
- Our approach is receptor agnostic compared with the antibody drug conjugate technology. We can address a wide range of cancers and most importantly those that do not express a specific receptor and which are still unmet medical needs.
Side effects stem from unspecific drug distribution
Preferential tumor accumulation with Imescia's approach
HPAPI are limited by their maximal tolerated dose
Imescia's technology increases HPAPI's maximal tolerated dose at least 10-fold
Low maximal tolerated dose → low efficacy in vivo
Significantly increased tumor growth inhibition with Imescia's prodrug
We are advancing in the preclinical development of our lead product IMA-01, based on a highly potent anticancer drug.
With IMA-01 we seek to address tumors with an important unmet medical need. We have a strong in vivo proof-of-concept and are gathering efficacy results on several cancer models.
We are actively looking for partnership opportunities to adapt our technology to the best HPAPIs
Our prodrug polymer technology is a platform that can be adapted to a wide variety of small molecules, peptides and oligonucleotides.
Small molecules
Peptides
Oligonucleotides
We improve API solubility, stability, pharmacokinetics (enhanced half-life) and do not need to use additional surfactants or lipids for the formulation. This is particularly of interest for small molecules HPAPI, peptides and oligonucleotides. Get in touch with us to learn more about the technology.
ABOUT IMESCIA
Founded in 2019, Imescia is a spin-off company from the Institut Galien Paris-Sud, co-founded by Tanguy Boissenot CEO (Pharm.D., Ph.D.), Alexandre Bordat COO (Ecole polytechnique, Ph.D.), Nicolas Tsapis (Ph.D., CNRS researcher), and Julien Nicolas (Ph.D., CNRS researcher). The company is the result of four years of fundamental research at the Institut Galien Paris-Sud. The team has the expertise in polymer synthesis and drug delivery systems.
OUR TEAM
Tanguy BOISSENOT
CEO co-founder
Pharm.D. Ph.D
Alexandre BORDAT
COO co-founder
Ecole polytechnique - Ph.D
Nada IBRAHIM
Head of Chemistry
Ph.D.
Nicolas TSAPIS
Scientific advisor co-founder
Ph.D - DR CNRS
Physical-chemistry
Julien NICOLAS
Scientific advisor co-founder
Ph.D - DR CNRS
Polymer chemistry
CONTACT US
contact@imescia.com
5, rue Jean-Baptiste Clément
92290 Châtenay-Malabry
PARTNERS
MENTORING
GRANTS
ACADEMIC FUNDING
THANKS TO IPSEN FOR LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
Legal Notices
Imescia SAS is a French company with a capital of 10,000 EUR, registered with the Trade and Companies Registry of Nanterre under the number SIRET 85167068700025 with registered offices at 5, rue Jean-Baptiste Clément 92290 Châtenay-Malabry France.
Sites linked directly or indirectly to the imescia.com site are not under its control. Consequently, Imescia assumes no responsibility for the information published on these sites.
Image credits
Adapted from Servier Medical Art (SMART)
Web design by Laurent Muller
Hosting
1&1 IONOS SARL
SARL with capital of 100,000 EUR
RCS Sarreguemines B 431 303 775
SIRET 431 303 775 000 16
APE Code 6201Z
VAT number: FR 13 431 303 775
Headquarters: 7, place de la Gare – BP 70109 – 57200 Sarreguemines C
Publication Director: Alexandre Bordat – contact@imescia.com