PureTech Health PLC PureTech's Vedanta Granted European Patent (8879M)

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RNS Number : 8879M

PureTech Health PLC

19 October 2016

19 October 2016

PureTech Health plc

PureTech Health's Vedanta Biosciences Granted European Patent Broadly Covering Pharmaceutical Compositions for Microbiome Therapeutics Based on Bacterial Consortia

PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC), a cross-disciplinary biotech company developing 21(st) century medicines, is pleased to note that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued European Patent EP2575835 that broadly covers pharmaceutical compositions of Clostridium live bacterial strains. This European Patent is Vedanta Biosciences' latest addition to their patent portfolio after the issuances of three U.S. patents in the previous months and earlier issuances in Japan. These patents are exclusively licensed to Vedanta Biosciences under an agreement with the University of Tokyo and provide coverage through at least 2031. The patent issuance also triggers another milestone payment of $2 million from Janssen Biotech, Inc. as part of Vedanta's ongoing collaboration for a product candidate in inflammatory bowel disease. Vedanta has a broad platform and multiple other product candidates outside of this collaboration.

Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at PureTech Health, said: "We are pleased to receive our first European patent in the microbiome area, which combined with our three U.S. patents, further strengthens our global intellectual property leadership position in the microbiome. The patent has broad, fundamental claims that we believe will be important for the commercialisation of microbiome therapeutics based on bacterial consortia."

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

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 colonise 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 favourable position to commercialise 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 characterised how the immune system recognises 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 characterisation 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 randomised, 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).

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 biotech company creating 21(st) 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 across multiple dimensions rather than through a single receptor or pathway. We are advancing more than 20 clinical studies across our pipeline, with five human proof-of-concept studies and multiple pivotal or registration studies expected to read out in the next two years. PureTech Health's pipeline is sourced and filtered by the world's leading scientific experts, who along with PureTech's leading team and board analyse more than 650 scientific discoveries per year to identify the most promising opportunities for patients. This process places the 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.

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October 19, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)