The cooperation agreement has just been signed. The two firms will join forces to develop a drug candidate for scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease that affects the skin and internal organs, for which there is no approved maintenance treatment at present. In France, 8,000 to 9,000 people have scleroderma (30 to 240 cases per million worldwide). 

Oncocross will screen drug candidates using its AI platform. 4P-Pharma will develop an R&D maturation program to further characterize the drug candidate and demonstrate its potential for treating scleroderma. 

4P-Pharma is a biotech firm specialized in the selection and acceleration of early-stage therapeutic molecules. Established in 2014, it bridges the gap between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry by forging partnerships with university TTOs (Technology Transfer Offices) and other biotech firms. It also has a laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in Lille.

“This research cooperation agreement with Oncocross is a tremendous opportunity to successfully and quickly develop an innovative treatment for scleroderma. It underlines our joint commitment to deliver innovative solutions for patients,” says Revital Rattenbach, CEO of 4P-Pharma

Oncocross’s AI platform uses transcriptomic and patient data. The technology developed by the Korean biotech Oncocross is approximately 40% accurate, from in silico AI screening to in vivo validation. Pre-clinical studies will be carried out in 4P-Pharma’s laboratory. 
4P-Pharma is also preparing a phase-1 clinical trial in arthritis patients with its subsidiary 4Moving Biotech, and a phase-2 clinical trial of its curative treatment for acute and chronic COVID-19 complications, run jointly by its subsidiary 4Living Biotech and Sanofi. Two other projects are being considered. The first is a joint project with the Institut de la Vision, to develop a treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt disease. The other focuses on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).