EUK-LPR: Eukarÿs confirms excellent preclinical performance of its first synthetic gene therapy

Eukarÿs today announces the excellent preclinical performance of its first synthetic gene therapy treatment. This treatment called EUK-LPR ("Eukarÿs Liver ProRegeneration") is designed to reduce mortality and morbidity following partial hepatic resection by inducing liver regeneration prior to this surgical procedure. For specifically tumor indications of hepatectomy, including liver metastases of colorectal cancer, EUK-LPR will be associated with another synthetic gene therapy treatment whose development will be announced in 2020.

The tests performed in rats confirmed the excellent performance of EUK-LPR, since an 18% increase in hepatic mass is observed in animals in just 4 days after injection of an advanced EUK-LPR prototype. These results follow an extensive phase of preclinical optimization of the artificial gene whose expression is made possible by synthetic gene therapy. No signs of toxicity or poor tolerance have been observed in animals.

Philippe Jais, President & Scientific Director of Eukarÿs said: "We are delighted by these new results, which reinforce the considerable work undertaken over two years ago. EUK-LPR is designed to reduce the mortality of major hepatectomy, a major surgical procedure performed in more than 50,000 patients each year. We expect to start the regulatory phases at the end of 2020-early 2021 and the clinical phases by 2023. »