Madrid 10th of May: The biotechnology companies of the Zeltia Group (ZEL..MC) have participated in the last edition of the international biotechnology convention organised by the Biotechnology International Organization (BIO), which took place from the 3rd to 6th of May 2010 in Chicago (US). In this international setting, the Zeltia Group described its business lines, each company’s advances in R&D and the different products under development.

The BIO annual convention is the biggest worldwide event for biotech industry. In its 2010 edition it has brought together 15,000 visitors, 14,000 meetings between companies have taken place and 1800 participating companies from 56 different countries have attended.

Miguel Sebastian, Minister of Industry, inaugurated the Spanish pavillion, the biggest in the convention. During this act, Zeltia was introduced as a Spanish and European exemplary R&D company.

175 scientific sessions have been celebrated at the convention, amongst which Sylentis and Noscira (companies belonging to the Zeltia Group) participated in the activities organised by ASEBIO for BIO 2010.

Also, Noscira was the only Spanish company selected by the European Comission (CE) as a speaker on “Public and Private Efforts Toward Effective Alzheimer’s Disease Therapies”.

Noscira participates with other European leading companies in a project financed with 12 million euros from the XVII Frame Programme on neurodegeneration mechanisms which lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the exploration of a new therapeutic target, GSK-3. The consortium is composed of 6 European academic partners and the Spanish company Noscira.

During both speeches, Noscira presented its compound NYPTA® (NP-12). NYPTA® is the only GSK-3 inhibitor presently under clinical development. 30 patients have already been treated for Alzheimer’s Disease and a Phase IIa study has recently been completed.

NYPTA® (NP-12) is also in Phase II for another type of dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Paralysis (PSP). The Phase II clinical trial for this indication began in January and 140 patients have been treated. NYPTA® (NP-12) received orphan drug designation last year by the EC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this indication.

Zeltia S.A. is a world-leading biopharmaceutical company specialised in the development of marine-based drugs for use in oncology and central nervous system illnesses. Grupo Zeltia consists mainly of the following companies: PharmaMar, the world-leading biotechnology company in advancing cancer care through the discovery and development of innovative marine-derived medicines; Noscira, a biotech firm focused on discovering and developing new drugs against Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative central nervous system diseases; Genómica, Spain's leading molecular diagnostics company; Sylentis, dedicated to researching therapeutic applications of gene silencing (RNAi); and a chemical division comprising Zelnova and Xylazel, two highly profitable companies that are leaders in their respective market segments.

José Luis Moreno
Florencia Radizza

Fernando Mugarza

This press release is also available in the Current events section on Zeltia's web site: www.zeltia.com