Rhetox Project Receives Financing of €1.15 Million

Rhenovia Pharma SAS, a biotechnology company specialising in treatments for diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems, has been selected by the French Armaments Directorate (DGA) and the General Directorate for Competitiveness, Industry and Services of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (DGCIS) for inclusion in the RAPID program (Support Regime for Dual Innovation in SMEs). By this distinction, Rhenovia will lead a research program, named Rhetox, which will be conducted in partnership with the French Army’s
Biomedical Research Institute (IRBA). Rhenovia will receive €850,000 from a global funding amount of €1.15 million.

The goal of the project is to expand the field of application of Rhenovia’s proprietary biosimulation platforms, which are already used in the pharmaceutical and agro-food industries, to include the evaluation of the neurobiological  effects of exposure to battlefield neurotoxic agents in order to develop more effective medical counter-measures.

“Signing this major research contract with the DGA and the DGCIS and inclusion of the company in a very selective program are remarkable recognition signals from the French authorities for Rhenovia’s innovative approach, the performance of its biosimulation platforms, and the breadth of its field of application,” said Dr Serge Bischoff, President & CEO of Rhenovia Pharma. “We are delighted to collaborate with the French Ministries of Defense and Economy, which opens up a new market for our technology platform.”

The Rhetox platform should also make it possible to predict the secondary neurotoxic effects of any type of drug or NCE on different neuronal molecular targets, leading to improvement of the safety of pharmacological agents.
In addition, this program will have immediate economic implications for the Alsace region through the creation of new direct and indirect jobs.