TIDMPRTC
RNS Number : 7195Z
PureTech Health PLC
19 December 2017
19 December 2017
PureTech Health plc
PureTech's Entrega To Receive $5 Million Investment from Lilly
To Advance Proprietary Oral Delivery Technology for Peptides
PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC), an advanced, clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to note that Entrega, an
affiliate of PureTech Health, today announced a research
collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) ("Lilly").
Under the terms of the initial agreement, Entrega will receive $5
million in equity and research funding from Lilly to investigate
the application of Entrega's peptide delivery technology to certain
Lilly products and therapeutic candidates. This initial agreement
does not grant Lilly a development or commercialisation license to
the Entrega technology.
David Steinberg, Chief Innovation Officer of PureTech Health,
said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Lilly to advance a novel
approach for oral peptide delivery through our affiliate Entrega.
In addition to our wholly-owned pipeline of programmes, our
affiliates - like Entrega - enable PureTech Health to build value
by collaborating with leading pharma partners."
The full text of the announcement from Entrega is as
follows:
Entrega To Receive $5 Million Investment from Lilly To Advance
Proprietary Oral Delivery Technology for Peptides
Novel approach to long-standing delivery challenge will be
pursued for existing and investigational Lilly therapeutic
candidates
BOSTON, Massachusetts, December 19, 2017 - Entrega, an affiliate
of PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC) focused on the oral delivery of
complex molecules, such as peptides, that cannot currently be taken
orally, is pleased to announce a research collaboration with Eli
Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) ("Lilly") to advance Entrega's
proprietary peptide delivery technology. Under the terms of the
initial agreement, Entrega will receive $5 million in equity and
research funding from Lilly to investigate the application of
Entrega's peptide delivery technology to certain Lilly products and
therapeutic candidates. This initial agreement does not grant Lilly
a development or commercialisation license to the Entrega
technology.
"We are excited to work with the innovative team at Entrega,"
said Divakar Ramakrishnan, Vice President, Drug Delivery and Device
R&D at Lilly. "Their approach is novel and complements our
broader efforts in oral macromolecule delivery."
The vast majority of biologic drugs (including peptides,
proteins and other macromolecules) are currently administered by
injection, which can present challenges for healthcare delivery and
compliance with treatment regimes. Oral administration thus
represents an ideal delivery approach for this increasingly large
class of therapies reshaping many areas of medicine. Entrega's
technology platform is a unique approach to oral delivery which
uses a proprietary, customisable hydrogel dosage form to control
local fluid microenvironments in the GI tract to both enhance
absorption and reduce the variability of drug exposure.
"Entrega has used a rigorous scientific approach to generate new
insights into one of the most challenging problems in drug
delivery. Our proof-of-concept data demonstrates successful
delivery of peptides in large animals," said Dr Robert Langer,
Chairman of Entrega's Scientific Advisory Board, non-executive
Board member of PureTech Health and Institute Professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). "We are excited to
work together with Lilly, who is an experienced collaborator in
this important area of peptide delivery."
About Entrega
Entrega is an affiliate of PureTech Health (LSE: PRTC) focused
on the oral delivery of medications that cannot currently be taken
orally. Its technology has the potential to deliver a wide variety
of biological molecules, drug substances, and nanoparticles, and
may also enable novel applications in a variety of fields such as
disease management and mobile health tracking. Entrega's technology
uses a proprietary, customisable hydrogel oral dosage form to
control the gastrointestinal (GI) tract fluid microenvironment
surrounding the hydrogel, enhancing the stability, absorption, and
consistency of large and/or unstable drug molecules.
Entrega's Directors and Scientific Advisory Board is comprised
of a group of leading experts, including:
Robert Langer, ScD, is one of 13 Institute Professors at MIT (an
Institute Professor is the highest honour awarded to a faculty
member). His h-index of 245 is the highest of any engineer in
history. He has over 1,300 issued and pending patents which have
been licensed or sublicensed to over 350 companies. He served as
Chairman of the FDA's SCIENCE BOARD (highest advisory board) from
1999-2002. Langer is one of a very few individuals elected to the
National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering,
the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of
Inventors. He is one of four living individuals to receive both the
US National Medal of Science and the US National Medal of
Technology and Innovation. In 2015, Dr Langer received the Queen
Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. He has also received the Draper
Prize (considered the engineering Nobel Prize), Albany Medical
Center Prize, Wolf Prize for Chemistry, Millennium Technology
Prize, Priestley Medal (highest award of the American Chemical
Society), Gairdner Prize, Kyoto Prize, Breakthrough Prize and the
Lemelson-MIT prize, for being "one of history's most prolific
inventors in medicine." In 2017, Nature Biotechnology named Langer
as the Number 1 Translational Researcher in the world. He holds 32
honorary doctorates including honorary degrees from Harvard and
Yale.
Colin Gardner, PhD, was formerly the CSO of a start-up
formulation company (TransForm Pharmaceuticals), which was acquired
by Johnson & Johnson and consequently led to major changes in
the way in which J&J integrated discovery and early
development. Colin stayed on as the President and Site Leader of
TransForm until he retired in June 2009. Before that, Colin was VP
and Global Head of formulation design and development for all Merck
products until 2001. He was involved in the development of 16 NCEs
whose combined maximum annual sales averaged $20Bn and three
vaccines. Colin was born and educated in Scotland, receiving a BSc
and PhD in chemistry from the University of Glasgow. After
post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School (Biophysics) and
MIT (Chemical Engineering), he returned to Europe and spent 6 years
in drug discovery at the Merrell International Research Center in
Strasbourg. Since leaving J&J, he has worked with over 30 small
and medium-sized pharmaceutical and device companies in the Boston
area, leading to two IPOs and two acquisitions.
Samir Mitragotri, PhD, is the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering
and Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
University. Prior to this, he was the Mellichamp Chair Professor in
the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of
California, Santa Barbara. His research is focused on transdermal,
oral, and targeted drug delivery systems. He is an elected member
of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of
Medicine and National Academy of Inventors. He is also an elected
fellow of AAAS, CRS, BMES, AIMBE, and AAPS. He is an author of over
210 publications, an inventor on over 150 patent/patent
applications, and a 2015, 2016 Thomson Reuters Highly Cited
Researcher. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the
Institute of Chemical Technology, India and a PhD in Chemical
Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Howard B. Rosen, MBA, was formerly President of ALZA
Corporation, where he was responsible for all aspects of managing
the drug delivery company as an independent 1000-person operating
company within the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Over
his 10 years at ALZA, Mr. Rosen also had responsibilities for
mergers and acquisitions, R&D planning, and technology
ventures. Previously Mr. Rosen was Vice President, Commercial
Strategy at Gilead Sciences, Inc. Mr. Rosen is a lecturer in the
Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford and teaches
entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is
also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and holds
chemical engineering degrees from MIT and Stanford.
Rob Armstrong, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer, board
member, and co-founder of Boston Pharmaceuticals. Dr Armstrong was
formerly Vice President of Global External Research and Development
and Chorus for Eli Lilly and Company. In this role, Dr Armstrong
spearheaded a number of innovative initiatives at Lilly including
the development of an integrated global network of R&D
partnerships and the creation of external funding and molecule
sourcing mechanisms to develop innovative drugs in the Chorus
translational medicine engine. Dr Armstrong also served as Vice
President of Discovery Chemistry Research and Technologies at Lilly
and prior to joining Lilly, he led Small Molecule Drug Discovery
and Development at Amgen. Dr Armstrong received bachelor's degrees
in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of California at
San Diego and a PhD in chemistry from Colorado State
University.
Ownership Information
Following the closing of the collaboration agreement, PureTech
Health (together with its affiliates) owns approximately 70.4% of
Entrega calculated on a fully-diluted basis(1) and approximately
73.9% of Entrega calculated on a diluted basis(2) .
(1) This calculation includes issued and outstanding shares,
outstanding options to purchase shares, and unallocated shares
authorised to be issued pursuant to equity incentive plans.
(2) This calculation includes issued and outstanding shares as
well as outstanding options to purchase shares, but excludes
unallocated shares authorised to be issued pursuant to equity
incentive plans.
About PureTech Health
PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is an advanced,
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines
targeting serious diseases that result from dysfunctions in the
nervous, immune, and gastrointestinal systems (brain-immune-gut or
the "BIG" axis), which together represent the adaptive human
systems. PureTech Health is at the forefront of understanding and
addressing the biological processes and crosstalk associated with
the BIG axis. By harnessing this emerging field of human biology,
the Company is pioneering new categories of medicine with the
potential to have great impact on people with serious diseases.
PureTech Health is advancing a rich pipeline of innovative
therapies that includes two pivotal stage programmes, multiple
human proof-of-concept studies and a number of early clinical and
pre-clinical programmes. PureTech's rich research and development
pipeline has been advanced in collaboration with some of the
world's leading scientific experts, who along with PureTech's team
of biopharma pioneers, entrepreneurs and seasoned Board, identify,
invent, and clinically de-risk new medicines. With this experienced
team pursuing cutting edge science, PureTech Health is building the
biopharma company of the future focused on improving and extending
the lives of people with serious disease. 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
PureTech'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. 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 PureTech Health nor any other party intends to update or
revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014.
Contact:
PureTech Health FTI Consulting
Allison Mead Talbot Ben Atwell, Rob
+1 617 651 3156 Winder
amt@puretechhealth.com +44 (0) 20 3727
1000
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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