[ Initially, the company worked on interferon and, in 1982, it began to focus on triptorelin, after having acquired the rights for its development from Tulane University.]
In 1989, Debiopharm acquired the license for oxaliplatin, a diaminocyclohexane (DACH) platin, from Nagoya City University. The drug was first approved in Europe in 1996 and became a standard treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer.
Since 2004, after having occupied different premises in Lausanne, Debiopharm moved its headquarters to a new building: what became "Après-demain Forum" had been initially designed by architect Jean Tschumi as the headquarters commodity trading giant Andre and is a .
In 2005, Debiopharm acquired the Canadian company H3 Pharma, rebranded Debiovision, to support the development and worldwide registration of its medicines.
The company's business model relies on establishing partnerships and research agreements with other companies or universities to develop new molecules and run clinical trials before licensing them in case of success. It partnered for instance in 2009 with US-based MSM Protein Technologies to work on a new oncology treatment,
In March 2021, Merck KGaA announced the acquisition of Debiopharm's xevinapant program in head and neck cancer for 900 million euros,
In September 2024, ITM Isotope Technologies Munich announced the exclusive global license for the clinical and commercial development of Debioharm's radiopharmaceutical peptide-based, theranostic pair ITM-91/ITM-94D (Debio 0328/0228).
Structure and subsidiaries
Debiopharm is the Life Science division of the holding company Après-demain (litt. "The Day after Tomorrow") with three subsidiaries active in drug development (Debiopharm International), drug manufacturing (Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing) and investment (Debiopharm Innovation Fund):
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Debiopharm International in-licenses product candidates or technologies, develops them into medicines, and then licenses them to third parties for commercialization.
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Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing (formerly known as Debio R.P.),
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Debiopharm Innovation Fund provides venture capital for Digital Health companies.
Until 2020, the subsidiary Debiopharm Investment SA managed the group's asset management activities.
Products
Debiopharm is known for the development of triptorelin and oxaliplatin, two drugs that became standards of care for the treatment of various types of cancer and are listed on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
Currently marketed
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Triptorelin is a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH agonist) approved for several indications, including prostate cancer and endometriosis, under the names Decapeptyl, Neo Decapeptyl, Trelstar and Pamorelin.
[ This molecule is also marketed in several European countries as Salvacyl and Moapar as a three-month treatment for sexual deviance.]
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Oxaliplatin is a diaminocyclohexane (DACH)-platinum
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Under development
Early-stage treatments being developed by Debiopharm are referred to by code names such as "Debio +4".
Other drug candidates under development include:
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Xevinapant is a potent, orally available inhibitor of apoptosis proteins.
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Afabicin is an enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase inhibitor and an antistaphylococcal antibiotic, to address acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections.
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Debio 0123, a WEE1 Enzyme inhibitor for the treatment of glioblastoma.
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Debio 1562M, a second-generation ADC directed against CD37 and including Multilink cleavable linker-payload technology in pre-clinical research for the treatment of some blood cancers including Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)
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Debio 4126, a sustained-release formulation of Somatostatin (SSA) therapy for the treatment of acromegaly
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Debio 4326 a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist therapy for central precocious puberty
External links
