Vedanta Biosciences Granted First European Patent Broadly Covering Pharmaceutical Compositions for Microbiome Therapeutics Based on Bacterial Consortia

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, October 19, 2016 — 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 the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued European Patent EP2575835. The patent broadly covers pharmaceutical compositions of Clostridium live bacterial strains and further expands Vedanta Biosciences’ patent portfolio after the issuances of three U.S. patents in the previous months and earlier issuances in Japan. The patents are exclusively licensed to Vedanta Biosciences under an agreement with the University of Tokyo and provide coverage through at least 2031.

The patented technology is based on ground-breaking work by Dr. Kenya Honda, a scientific co-founder of Vedanta Biosciences. Dr. Honda’s work provides an avenue for the treatment of a variety of diseases including immune and infectious diseases employing bacterial strains belonging to Clostridium clusters IV and/or XIVa. Clostridium bacteria include a variety of spore-forming species that can abundantly colonize the gut.

“This European patent is an important addition to our global intellectual property portfolio,” said Bernat Olle, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences. “The claims issued put Vedanta in a very favorable position to commercialize drugs based on bacterial consortia in the second largest market in the world.” said Bernat Olle, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vedanta Biosciences.  

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 cofounders, 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).

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.

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