Helios BioSciences becomes 27th company to move into Biocitech technology park9 March 2012 Biocitech, the Paris life sciences technology park, has announced the arrival of Helios BioSciences, a provider of bioinformatics services in support of the drug discovery process. The company, which moved into the technology park in December, is the 27th company to locate there, giving further confirmation of Biocitech’s attractiveness to firms that provide services along the whole of the human health value chain. Product base Helios BioSciences is specialized in research into new molecular targets and biomarkers. The company uses its proprietary, fully patented technological platform to build dynamic mathematic models of intracellular signalling cascades by combining available signalling data and experimental data. This makes it possible to identify potential targets whose activity can be modified in order to halt the disease. Another application of these models is the isolation of markers characterizing the evolution of the pathology or the response to treatments. Helios BioSciences focuses primarily on cancer, neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases and helps companies rationalize their drug discovery processes in these areas in particular. Origin Founded in Paris in 2002, Helios BioSciences was originally housed in the Faculty of Medicine of Créteil, and also received support from the Paris Biotech Santé incubator at the Cochin Port-Royal Faculty of Medicine in Paris. It is funded by founders’ equity and business angels, as well as revenues from its fee-for-service activities, and has won prizes in the Ministry of Research/Tremplins Aventis competition for aid for the creation of innovative enterprises organized by the Aventis Foundation. The company currently has four employees. Comment “Helios BioSciences’ relocation to the Biocitech campus strengthens the range of services provided by the park’s scientific and technological service companies,” said Biocitech president, Jean-François Boussard. “Helios is positioned at the beginning of the drug R&D cycle. Our plug and market concept corresponds perfectly to the stage of development Helios is now at, and we think it will find some customers on its doorstep by talking to neighboring firms, as well as opportunities to develop joint product offers with other firms in the park.” “Helios Biosciences’ novel positioning, downstream from the so-called “omic” platforms (transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics), gives us a real added value in the selection of therapeutic targets and biomarkers,” said the manager of Helios BioSciences, Jean-Baptiste Dumas. “Helios will be able to speed up its commercial development in a supportive environment. The premises, the services provided and the excellent standards with which Biocitech complies were behind our decision to relocate there.” Source: Helios BioSciences
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