Last checked at 2 Nov 2016 07:00
2 November 2016
Allergy Therapeutics plc
("Allergy Therapeutics" or the "Company")
European Patent Office grants new and expanded patent underpinning Allergy Therapeutics' core Microcrystalline Tyrosine technology
Patent already granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand
Allergy Therapeutics (AIM:AGY), the fully integrated pharmaceutical company specialising in allergy vaccines, today announces that the European Patent Office has granted a broad technology patent relating to the Company's unique Microcrystalline Tyrosine (MCT) depot adjuvant manufacturing process. This patent covers the novel manufacture and physiochemical characteristics of MCT in combination with one or more antigens, further strengthening the Company's core intellectual property.
The granting of this patent further strengthens Bencard Adjuvant Systems, the wholly-owned division of Allergy Therapeutics which specialises in developing and optimising aluminium-free adjuvants for infectious diseases. Recent data generated have shown how MCT has a synergistic effect when coupled with another adjuvant from BAS's portfolio, Virus Like Particles (VLP), to create the adjuvant system AdSys-VcT. As recently announced, this adjuvant system demonstrated protective efficacy in a malaria model in a study performed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, UK.
Manuel Llobet, Chief Executive Officer of Allergy Therapeutics, commented: "We are pleased to expand this key patent and are excited by the potential for MCT as a core technology within our adjuvant portfolio to create novel and efficacious vaccines, both in allergies and also in infectious disease areas such as malaria and influenza. This further underpins the future pipeline for products, and the long term success of Allergy Therapeutics to continue innovating and producing novel medicines."
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Allergy Therapeutics
+44 (0) 1903 845 820
Manuel Llobet, Chief Executive Officer
Nick Wykeman, Finance Director
Panmure Gordon
+44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Freddy Crossley / Duncan Monteith, Corporate Finance
Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking
Consilium Strategic Communications
+44 20 3709 5700
Mary-Jane Elliott / Ivar Milligan
allergytherapeutics@consilium-comms.com
Notes for editors:
About Allergy Therapeutics
Allergy Therapeutics is an international specialty pharmaceutical company focussed on the treatment and diagnosis of allergic disorders including immunotherapy vaccines that cure disease. The Company sells proprietary products and third party products from its subsidiaries in nine major European countries and via distribution agreements in an additional ten countries.
Formed in 1999 out of Smith Kline Beecham, Allergy Therapeutics is headquartered in Worthing, UK with MHRA-approved manufacturing facilities. The Company employs c.420 employees and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM:AGY). For more information, please see www.allergytherapeutics.com.
About Bencard Adjuvant Systems
Bencard Adjuvant Systems (BAS) is a division of Allergy Therapeutics UK. Located in UK, BAS specialises in developing and optimising adjuvants for vaccines against infectious diseases and allergen immunotherapy. The team at BAS are committed to engaging in long-term partnerships with those who require BAS's patented platform of adjuvant technologies to enable successful vaccine or immunotherapy development. For more information, please contact www.bencard-as.com.
About Microcrystalline Tyrosine
Microcrystalline Tyrosine (MCT) functions as a depot adjuvant in the Company's range of subcutaneous immunotherapy products. The use of a depot upon which to attach an antigen facilitates recognition by the immune system by providing a slow release system and thus extending the time available for the immune system to process the antigen. MCT is comprised of defined crystalline particles of the amino-acid L-Tyrosine, which is naturally biodegraded by the body and further used in biological functions. MCT offers a shorter solubility profile being metabolised in 48 hours1 and also exhibits a favourable immune profile in that it preferentially shifts from an allergic Th1 response to a tolerating Th2 response2 both of which are preferential to classic depot adjuvants such as aluminium in short-course allergen immunotherapy.
References
1 Baldrick et al, J of toxicology, 2002.
2Kundig et al., pending publication.