Vedanta Biosciences Announces Clinical Translational Medicine Collaborations with Stanford University School of Medicine and Leiden University Medical Center

PureTech Health plc (“PureTech,” LSE: PRTC), a cross-disciplinary biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to note that Vedanta Biosciences has entered into clinical translational medicine collaborations with Stanford University School of Medicine and Leiden University Medical Center. Under the terms of the agreement with Stanford, Vedanta will analyse changes in the gut microbiome as they relate to responses to oral immunotherapies in children with food allergies. With Leiden University, Vedanta will generate clinical data from interventional studies of faecal transplantation in C. difficile patients, as well as clinical data from patients with graft-versus-host disease. Both collaborations seek to better understand patterns in the microbiome that can potentially inform clinical responses to therapy and support Vedanta’s ongoing drug development strategy. 

Joe Bolen, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer for PureTech Health said: “Among the advantages of microbiome-derived therapeutic approaches is the ability to directly define the community of intestinal microorganisms associated with human health and disease. The collaborations with Stanford University School of Medicine and Leiden University Medical Center represent significant additions to our global network of clinical alliance partners.” 

The full text of the announcement from Vedanta Biosciences is as follows:

Vedanta Biosciences Announces Clinical Translational Medicine Collaborations with Stanford University School of Medicine and Leiden University Medical Center Focused on Food Allergies and C. difficile and Graft versus Host Disease

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, February 16, 2017 — Vedanta Biosciences, pioneering the development of a novel class of therapies for immune and infectious diseases based on rationally designed consortia of bacteria derived from the human microbiome, today announced that it has entered into translational medicine collaborations with Stanford University School of Medicine and Leiden University Medical Center. The relationships will focus on food allergies in children and on patients with C. difficile infection or graft-versus-host disease, respectively.

Both collaborations seek to better understand patterns in the microbiome that may potentially inform clinical responses to therapy. Under the terms of the agreement with Stanford, Vedanta will work in collaboration with Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, Director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University, to analyse the potential connection between the gut microbiome and responses to oral immunotherapies in children with food allergies. With Leiden University, Vedanta will generate clinical data from interventional studies of faecal transplantation in C. difficile patients treated with donors from the Netherlands Donor Faces Bank, as well as clinical data from patients with graft-versus-host disease, in collaboration with Ed Kuijper, MD, PhD, Professor of Medical Microbiology at the Leiden University Medical Center and co-chair of the Netherlands Donor Faeces Bank. The clinical data will feed into Vedanta’s leading platform for discovery, development, and GMP manufacturing of rationally designed bacterial consortia drugs.

“We’re excited to announce our relationships with Stanford and Leiden University,” said Bruce Roberts, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Vedanta Biosciences. “Collaborations with leading academic centres are an important part of our strategy to support our drug development efforts with human data and with careful science.”

About Vedanta Biosciences

Vedanta Biosciences is pioneering development of a novel class of therapies for immune and infectious diseases based on rationally designed consortia of bacteria derived from the human microbiome, with clinical trials expected to begin in the first half of 2017. 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 to discover, develop and manufacture drugs based on live bacterial consortia. Leveraging its proprietary technology platform and the expertise of its team of scientific co-founders, Vedanta Biosciences has isolated a vast collection of human-associated bacterial strains and characterized how the immune system recognizes and responds to these microbes. This work has led to the identification of human commensal bacteria that induce a range of immune responses – including induction of regulatory T cells and Th17 cells, among others – as well as the characterization of novel molecular mechanisms of microbial-host communication. These advances have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals including Science, Nature (multiple), Cell and Nature Immunology. Vedanta Biosciences has harnessed these biological insights as well as data from clinical translational collaborations to generate a pipeline of programs in development for infectious disease, autoimmune disease, inflammation and immune-oncology. The clinical potential of therapeutic manipulation of the microbiome has been validated by multiple randomized, controlled trials in infectious disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

Vedanta Biosciences’ 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 is backed by PureTech Health, Seventure, Invesco Asset Management, and Rock Springs Capital. 

PureTech Health plc (PRTC.L) owns 75.4% of Vedanta on a diluted basis as of 30 June 2016. This calculation includes issued and outstanding shares as well as options to purchase shares and written commitments to issue shares or options, but excludes unallocated shares authorised to be issued pursuant to equity incentive plans.

About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a cross-disciplinary biopharmaceutical company creating 21st century medicines that modulate the adaptive human systems. Our therapies target 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. We have multiple human proof-of-concept studies and pivotal or registration studies expected to read out in the next two years. PureTech Health’s rich and 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 board, analyse more than 650 scientific discoveries per year to identify and advance only the opportunities we believe hold the most promise for patients. This team and process place PureTech Health on the cutting edge 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.

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:

Media:

Allison Mead
+1 617 651 3156
amead@puretechhealth.com

Investors:

Graham Morrell
+1 617 986 1659
gm@puretechhealth.com