Alizé Pharma closes EUR 3 million (USD 4.2M) financing round

Metabolic disease and cancer therapy group will use funds to strengthen scientific team and progress development of its two core programs

Lyon, France, September 1st 2009 - Alizé Pharma, a group of biopharmaceutical companies developing innovative therapeutics for metabolic diseases and cancer, announces today that it has raised EUR 3 million of funding. A new investor, SHAM, a Lyon-based insurance company specialized in medical malpractice liability insurance, led the operation. Existing investors, Octalfa SAS, a French holding company, and CEMA Inc, a Canadian holding company, also participated. Including this new round, Alizé Pharma Group has raised EUR 4.8 million from these three investors since its creation in 2007.

The funding will allow Alizé Pharma to strengthen its drug development team and pursue its development programs. It will also facilitate partnership discussions. As of today, the group has two programs at the preclinical stage. These are being handled by two distinct entities, Alizé Pharma and Alizé Pharma II. The first program, AZP-01, aims at developing the first product of a new therapeutic class, unacylated ghrelin agonists, for the treatment of Type II diabetes. The second, Asparec® (AZP-02), is a new recombinant long-acting Lasparaginase product with reduced immunogenicity. It has been developed in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The funds raised will allow Alizé Pharma to finalize the optimization and formulation of a first drug candidate for AZP-01 and to file a clinical trial application (CTA) to undertake the clinical development of the ASPAREC® product.

“We are very pleased to welcome SHAM as a new investor and to benefit from the continued support of our existing investors,” said Thierry Abribat, president and founder of Alizé Pharma. “This fundraising shows the confidence of our investors in our strategy of selecting programs that fulfill clearly identified medical needs, creating value by achieving drug development milestones and establishing early partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry.”

The group’s clear and focused business model is backed by the experience of its board made up of the group’s founding investors. Board members are Gilles Alberici, president of Octalfa SAS and former founder and president of OPi SA, acquired by the British company, EUSA Pharma in 2007; André de Villers, president of CEMA Inc, former founder, president and CEO of Theratechnologies Inc and of Celmed Biosciences Inc (Montreal, Canada) and Thierry Abribat, President and Founder of Alizé Pharma.

“The relevance of the business model set forth by Thierry Abribat and the quality of the team involved in this project were key factors in raising SHAM’s interest,” said SHAM’s Head of Investments, Olivier Szymkowiak. “The programs under development at Alizé Pharma aim at meeting important medical needs.”

About Alizé Pharma
The Alizé Pharma Group is composed of privately-held biopharmaceutical companies specialized in the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of metabolic diseases and cancer. The group acquires R&D programs from public or private laboratories, selecting them according to strict criteria, with particular reference to medical need and innovation. It then handles preclinical and clinical development and establishes partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry via co-development or out-licensing agreements. Alizé Pharma considers its main added value to be in the expertise of its team specialized in drug development and able to bring many years of successful experience in this field.

The first of the two entities of the Group, Alizé Pharma SAS, is dedicated to AZP- 01, a program based on unacylated ghrelin agonists, a new therapeutic class for the treatment of Type II diabetes. Unacylated ghrelin and its analogs have the potential not only to control the disease but also to have a positive impact on other cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, dyslipidemia and impaired vascular remodeling. The parent molecule and its analogs are protected by four patent families worldwide.

The second entity is Alizé Pharma II SAS. It is focused on the development of Asparec® (AZP-02), a new, long-acting recombinant L-asparaginase with reduced immunogenicity for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and currently at the preclinical stage.

Founded in April 2007, the Alizé Pharma group is based in Ecully, near Lyon, France. Its management is made up of a team of drug development experts and a board of directors offering wide international experience.

For further information: www.alz-pharma.com

For further information about SHAM: www.sham.fr

For further information about Octalfa SAS: www.octalfa.eu