Vect-Horus Announces Collaboration and Option Agreement with Astellas Pharma

MARSEILLE, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CNS_diseases–Vect-Horus announced today the signing of the Research Collaboration and
Option Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Astellas Pharma Inc., a Japan
based pharmaceutical company (“Astellas”). Vect-Horus will use its
proprietary technology VECTrans® to transport Astellas’ antibody to the
brain for the treatment of CNS diseases.

Vect-Horus has developed vectors, which improve the transport of
therapeutic molecules to the brain or to tumors. These vectors target
different receptors that are involved in a process known as
Receptor-Mediated Transport. With a large panel of vectors, each
collaboration is designed on a case-by-case study.

In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement, Vect-Horus
will conjugate Astellas’s antibody with its vectors and will be in
charge of conjugate design, initial production and validation.
Vect-Horus will potentially be eligible to receive upfront, development
and commercial milestone payments and royalties on net sales of products.

“This agreement with a global leader at the forefront of
healthcare innovation reflects the growing interest in our
drug delivery platform based on vectors and more widely the potential of
our approach to facilitate the addressing of diagnostic and therapeutic
molecules to different organs and particularly to the brain”, said
Alexandre Tokay, co-founder and CEO of Vect-Horus.

“We appreciate the efforts of Astellas team in getting the
agreement completed and we are looking forward to working with
Astellas scientists to building a successful partnership” said Dr
Jamal Temsamani, Director of Drug Development, Vect-Horus.

With the signing of the Agreement, Vect-Horus pursues its intensive
business development strategy to collaborate with biopharmaceutical
companies and propose its VECTrans® technology to improve the brain
delivery of their therapeutic drugs.

About Vect-Horus

Vect-Horus designs and develops vectors that facilitate targeting and
delivery of therapeutic or imaging agents to organs, including the brain
and tumours. Vect-Horus combines these different agents to its vectors
that specifically target various receptors, allowing these agents to
cross natural barriers (first and foremost the blood-brain-barrier)
which limit access of therapeutic or imaging agents to their targets.
The proof of concept of the technology has already been established in
animal models using different vectorized molecules. Created in 2005,
Vect-Horus is a spin-off of the Institute for Neurophysiopathology (INP,
UMR7051, CNRS and Aix Marseille University), headed by Dr Michel
Khrestchatisky, co-founder. To learn more Vect-Horus, visit www.vect-horus.com.
For more information about this press release, please contact Elodie
Dormes, Business Development Manager, [email protected].

Contacts

Elodie Dormes
[email protected]