TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
05 May 2017
5 May 2017
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Health Announces Licensing Agreement between Commense
and the University of British Columbia for Microbiome-Derived
Therapy
Live biotherapeutic product to be developed as an early
intervention for asthma and other allergic diseases that begin in
childhood
PureTech Health plc ("PureTech Health" or the "Company", LSE:
PRTC), an advanced, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is
pleased to announce a licensing agreement between Commense, Inc.
("Commense"), a subsidiary of PureTech Health, and the University
of British Columbia ("UBC") for a microbiome-based therapy directed
toward the prevention of asthma and other allergic diseases that
present in childhood. This live biotherapeutic product bolsters
Commense's pipeline of novel therapeutic programs designed to
nurture a healthy microbiome early in life.
The licensed technology was developed at UBC by B. Brett Finlay,
Ph.D., Co-Founder and Scientific Advisory Board Member of the
Company, Stuart Turvey, MBBS, D.Phil, FRCPC, and their colleagues
and is based on their research published in Science Translational
Medicine. Based on analysis of a longitudinal study, Dr. Finlay and
his colleagues identified a transient imbalance early in life in
children with atopy, wheeze, and asthma of four specific bacterial
taxa: Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella, and Rothia
(FLVR). In preclinical models of airway inflammation, signs of
respiratory diseases, such as asthma, were ameliorated when live
FLVR was introduced to correct the imbalance. The potential
protective influence of FLVR in the early development of a child's
immune system and against the development of asthma could have a
significant impact on non-infectious, chronic diseases in children
and adults.
"Asthma is a lifelong chronic disease that affects the quality
of life of over 25 million Americans. The impact of using a defined
microbial intervention to potentially change the natural course of
asthma and prevent many cases of the disease could be profound,"
said Fernando Martinez, MD, Director of the Asthma and Airway
Disease Research Center at the University of Arizona and a Clinical
Advisor to Commense. "The FLVR supplementation approach uses
defined gut-derived bacterial consortia against allergy and asthma.
If this approach were to be successful, it would be a key step
forward."
"Nurturing a healthy microbiome early in life represents a novel
strategy to significantly reduce the impact of chronic diseases
like asthma, allergies, diabetes, and obesity," said Joe Bolen,
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer for PureTech Health. "Brett's work
and contributions with FLVR build upon our arsenal of
microbiome-derived therapeutics and may potentially impact
childhood health in an important way."
Commense programs are part of PureTech Health's growing pipeline
in immunology and microbiome-based therapeutics. These programs
leverage the core expertise PureTech Health has developed through
its Vedanta Biosciences subsidiary, allowing for accelerated
development. Commense anticipates initiation of human clinical
trials in 2019.
PureTech Health has gathered a group of leading expert
collaborators and advisors around the Commense program,
including:
-- Rob Knight, Ph.D., (SAB Member) - Professor in the Department
of Pediatrics and Professor in the Department of Computer Science
and Engineering at the University of California San Diego (UC San
Diego); Director of UC San Diego's Center for Microbiome
Innovation; co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project and American
Gut; pioneer of key computational and experimental techniques for
characterizing and designing complex microbial communities in
different ecosystems; and author of TED book Follow Your Gut: The
Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes;
-- Martin J. Blaser, M.D., (Scientific Co-Founder and SAB
Member) - Professor of Microbiology, NYU Langone Medical Center;
Director of the Human Microbiome Program; internationally
recognized for his pioneering work in discovering the progressive
loss of microbial diversity in the microbiota of people living in
developed countries and its effects on health; and author of
Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our
Modern Plagues;
-- B. Brett Finlay, Ph.D., (Scientific Co-Founder and SAB
Member) - Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the
University of British Columbia; pioneer in understanding how loss
of key microbes in children can affect disease, including atopic
diseases and allergy; and author of Let Them Eat Dirt, which
explores how the microbes that inhabit our bodies influence
childhood development;
-- Joseph St. Geme III, M.D., (Advisor and SAB Member) -
Physician-in-Chief and Chairman of Pediatrics at the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia; Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology
at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania; and leading clinician and researcher in the area of
pediatric host-bacterial interactions;
-- Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, Ph.D., (Scientific Co-Founder
and SAB Member) - Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone
Medical Center; lead author of the Nature Medicine study and
pioneer in characterizing and understanding microbial exposures
early in life;
-- Sam Kass, (Advisor and Commense Board Member) - former Senior
Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy at the White House and former
Executive Director of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move!
childhood health campaign; and
-- Bob Jones, (Advisor) - CEO of Scientific Nutrition Products,
Inc.; former Nutrition and Wellness practice lead at Scientia
Advisors, a strategy consulting firm; and former President and CEO
of Vitasoy USA, Inc., the nation's largest marketer and
manufacturer of tofu and the pioneer of soymilk in America.
About Commense
Commense, a subsidiary of PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC), is
building on a deep understanding of the microbiome early in life
and its fundamental role in promoting a lifetime of good health.
Drawing insights from natural exposures to beneficial microbes,
Commense is developing approaches to guide the priming, seeding,
and maintaining of the microbiome in infants and children. Commense
is working with the world's leading microbiome scientists,
physicians, and product developers to develop a novel category of
products to address critical unmet needs in pediatric
populations.
About PureTech Health
PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is an advanced,
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines
that modulate the adaptive human systems. PureTech's therapies
target the dysfunctions in the immune, nervous, and
gastro-intestinal systems by addressing the underlying
pathophysiology of disease from a systems perspective rather than
through a single receptor or pathway. The Company is advancing a
rich pipeline that includes multiple human proof-of-concept studies
and pivotal or registration studies expected to read out over the
next 12-18 months. PureTech Health's growing research and
development pipeline has been developed in collaboration with some
of the world's leading scientific experts, who along with
PureTech's experienced team and a stellar Board identify, analyze
and advance very selectively the opportunities the Company believes
hold the most promise for patients. This experienced and engaged
team places PureTech Health at the forefront of ground-breaking
science and technological innovation and leads the Company between
and beyond existing disciplines. For more information, visit
www.puretechhealth.com or connect with us on Twitter
@puretechh.
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.
For further information:
PureTech Health FTI Consulting
Allison Mead Ben Atwell, Matthew
+1 617 651 3156 Cole, Rob Winder
amead@puretechhealth.com +44 (0) 20 3727
1000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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May 05, 2017 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)
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