TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
30 March 2016
30 March 2016
PureTech Health plc
PureTech's Vedanta Biosciences Announces Licence Agreement with
RIKEN and other Japanese Institutions for New Immune Boosting
Microbiome Technology
PureTech Health plc ("PureTech", LSE: PRTC), a
cross-disciplinary healthcare company tackling fundamental medical
needs, is pleased to note that Vedanta Biosciences, a PureTech
business pioneering the development of a new class of therapies
designed to modulate the human microbiome, today announced a
licence agreement with RIKEN, the University of Tokyo and Azabu
University. The new technology platform, which involves
immune-boosting microbes isolated from the human gut, may have
clinical applications in infectious disease, vaccines and
immuno-oncology.
Daphne Zohar, CEO of PureTech said: "Vedanta's licence agreement
strengthens and broadens Vedanta's platform and leadership in human
microbiome-host immune interactions. With this new technology, we
can now potentially activate immune cells when needed, along with
Vedanta's existing technology which is designed to supress
overactive immune responses."
Vedanta also announced a second patent issuance in Japan, which
provides coverage for multiple candidates in Vedanta's pipeline
through 2031.
The full text of the announcement from Vedanta Biosciences is as
follows:
Vedanta Biosciences Announces Licence Agreement with RIKEN and
other Japanese Institutions for New Immune Boosting Microbiome
Technology
Company also announces second patent issuance in Japan for
pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use in autoimmune,
inflammatory and infectious diseases
BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 30, 2016 - Vedanta Biosciences,
pioneering the development of a new class of therapies designed to
modulate the human microbiome, today announced a licence agreement
with RIKEN, the University of Tokyo and Azabu University for
technology developed by RIKEN Team Leader and Vedanta Co-founder
and Scientific Advisory Board Member, Kenya Honda, M.D., Ph.D. The
new technology has potential clinical applications in infectious
disease, vaccine design and immuno-oncology. Vedanta also received
a second patent issuance in Japan for key intellectual
property.
Under the terms of the agreement, Vedanta will collaborate with
Dr. Honda's lab to investigate potential pharmaceutical candidates
involving bacterial strains that activate immune cells in the human
gut called Th17 cells. Th17 cells are a specialised group of immune
cells that may help protect the body against infectious pathogens
and are also a potential target in the treatment of cancer.
"This technology introduces a new way in which we can harness
the immune system in the treatment of disease," Honda said.
"Microbes that stimulate Th17 cells may lead to new avenues in
vaccine design and in novel therapies for cancer and microbial
infections."
Details on the technology - immune-boosting microbes isolated
from the human gut - were published in October 2015 in the
prestigious scientific journal Cell.(1) In the published study,
Honda and colleagues identified and isolated bacterial strains from
humans that can induce Th17 cells and demonstrated that these
strains induce Th17 responses by adhering to cells in the
intestine.
Vedanta is a leader in the microbiome field in developing a
platform for the discovery, development, and manufacturing of drugs
based on live commensal microbes. Using its proprietary technology
platform, Vedanta has isolated a vast library of human-associated
bacterial strains and characterised how the immune system
recognises and responds to bacteria. The company has generated a
pipeline of microbial drug candidates that can suppress - or tone
down - the immune system, a potentially beneficial approach for
managing inflammatory or autoimmune diseases where the immune
system is overactive and causes damage to the body. The licence
agreement broadens Vedanta's pipeline by adding candidates that
conversely stimulate the immune system to fight infections and
cancer.
"This new technology, coupled with our proprietary platform,
broadens Vedanta's ability to develop immunotherapies based on
bacterial strains derived from the gut microbiota," said Dr. Bernat
Olle, Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta. "We previously
demonstrated we can develop therapies to potentially calm
overactive immune responses. This technology enables us to do the
opposite - to harness bacteria to potentially activate immune cells
when needed."
Vedanta also further strengthened its patent portfolio with a
second patent issuance in Japan, which provides coverage for
multiple candidates in Vedanta's pipeline through 2031. The patent
includes claims to pharmaceutical compositions of bacterial strains
and methods of treatment for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory
diseases and infectious diseases using such compositions.
About Vedanta
Vedanta Biosciences is pioneering development of a novel class
of therapies designed to modulate pathways of interaction between
the human microbiome and the host immune system. Founded by
PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) and a group of
world-renowned experts in immunology and microbiology, Vedanta
Biosciences is a leader in the microbiome field with capabilities
that potentially enable discovery, development, and manufacturing
of drugs based on live commensal microbes. Using its proprietary
technology platform, Vedanta Biosciences has isolated a vast
collection of human-associated bacterial strains and characterised
how the immune system recognises and responds to these microbes and
has generated a pipeline of drug candidates in development for
infectious disease, immune tolerance, inflammation, and
immuno-oncology.
Vedanta's scientific co-founders have pioneered the fields of
innate immunity, Th17 and regulatory T cell biology, and include
Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov (Professor of Immunobiology at Yale), Dr.
Alexander Rudensky (tri-institutional Professor at the Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Institute, the Rockefeller University and Cornell
University), Dr. Dan Littman (Professor of Molecular Immunology at
NYU), Dr. Brett Finlay (Professor at the University of British
Columbia) and Dr. Kenya Honda (Professor, School of Medicine, Keio
University). Vedanta's Board of Directors includes Board Chairman
Christopher Viehbacher, Managing Partner at Gurnet Point Capital
and former CEO and Member of the Board of Directors of Sanofi; Dr.
Bennett Shapiro, former Executive Vice President of Merck; Dr. John
LaMattina, former President of research and development at Pfizer
and David Steinberg, Co-Founder of Vedanta and Executive Vice
President at PureTech.
In January 2015, Vedanta announced a licensing agreement with
Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies,
including an upfront payment and development and commercialisation
milestone payments of up to $339 million. Under the agreement,
Janssen is developing one of the product candidates in Vedanta's
pipeline built on the Company's technology platform.
About PureTech Health
PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a
cross-disciplinary healthcare company developing innovative
products that could improve the lives of billions of patients.
PureTech is focused on areas of growing scientific and technical
insights that it believes are at an important inflection point,
including the central nervous, gastro-intestinal and immune
systems, and the interactions and signalling between them. PureTech
has a pipeline of more than 30 programmes and 20 clinical studies
targeting multi-billion dollar market opportunities. PureTech's
advanced programmes include five with human proof-of-concept and
multiple with pivotal or registration study readouts in the next
two years. PureTech's leading team and board, along with an
advisory network of more than 60 expert founder-scientists and
advisors across multiple disciplines, gives PureTech access to
potentially ground-breaking science and technological innovation.
With healthcare undergoing major transformation, PureTech is well
positioned to develop and launch medicines for the 21st century.
For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com and connect with
us on Twitter.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be
forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the
company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ
materially from current expectations, including, but not limited
to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors
included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These
forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the
present and future business strategies of the company and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. Each
forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press
release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements,
neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise
these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
(1) Atarashi et al., Th17 Cell Induction by Adhesion of Microbes
to Intestinal Epithelial Cells, Cell (2015),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.08.058
# # #
For further information please contact:
PureTech
Julie DiCarlo, Senior Vice President,
Communications and Investor Relations +1 617 456 0032
FTI Consulting (Communications
adviser to PureTech) +44 (0)20 3727
Ben Atwell / Matthew Cole 1000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
NRADMGFFKGNGVZG
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March 30, 2016 04:00 ET (08:00 GMT)
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