Meletios Therapeutics’ Efforts in Antiviral Field Gains Recognition from Bpifrance

Meletios Therapeutics, a French biotech company focused on the R&D of next-generation antiviral treatments, has been awarded with funding worth €1.2 million (US$1.3 million) from Bpifrance’s Deeptech development program to aid in its work.

According to a June 29, 2023 press release, the monies granted to Meletios Therapeutics will be used to validate the company’s Defective Viral Genome (DVG) platform and to develop the first candidates from this platform until they are suitable for entry into clinical phases. It was this technology that was deemed to meet the criteria set out by Bpifrance to discern whether a company can be classified as Deeptech—one that is closely linked to the world of research and that proposes a disruptive innovation compared with existing technologies.

The DVG platform, which originated from the Pasteur Institute and has been developed by Meletios Therapeutics, generates, identifies, and uses DVGs—truncated copies of a virus that have lost their pathogenic properties. In February 2022, Meletios Therapeutics obtained authorization from the Pasteur Institute to extend the exclusive license for the platform, allowing Meletios Therapeutics to apply a highly specific method of generating new DVGs to the entire family of flaviviruses, alphaviruses, and coronaviruses.

“One of our main challenges in the development of this new generation of treatments was to develop a safe, effective, and, above all, rapid method for the identification and supply of DVGs in the context of viral epidemics. Viruses are indeed capable of spreading very quickly in the population, and this is all the truer in the case of new emerging viruses whose properties are not yet fully known. Therefore, there is a real challenge to develop and make available to clinicians a rapid and effective therapeutic response to these infections,” said Catherine Martre, CEO of Meletios Therapeutics, in the press release. “We are delighted to receive this funding, which demonstrates the scientific relevance of our technology and the confidence place in us by Bpifrance. With this new financial support and its disruptive technology platform, developed together with the Pasteur Institute, […] Meletios Therapeutics is now fully equipped to enter the next phases of the development of its lead drug candidates.”

Source: Meletios Therapeutics