12 Dec 2017 07:00
PRESS RELEASE
Ergomed expands its co-development pipeline with a multi-product partnership with Allergy Therapeutics for oral allergy immunotherapies
- Ergomed to receive future tiered royalties for each product in addition to service fees
- Further contribution to service growth plus upside from sustainable drug development
- Ergomed's extensive experience in conducting trials in allergy therapies led to new co development deal
London, UK - 12 December 2017: Ergomed plc (LSE: ERGO) ('Ergomed' or the 'Company'), a specialised pharmaceutical services and drug development company, is pleased to announce a multi-product, multi-study co-development partnership with Allergy Therapeutics plc (AIM: AGY), the fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company specialising in allergy vaccines, to support the commercialisation of Allergy Therapeutics' OralVac platform.
The co-development collaboration will include clinical studies, from Phase I to Phase III, of three OralVac products: house dust mite; tree pollen; and grass pollen, and is scheduled to run for seven years. The development will begin in 2018 with a Phase I study in house dust mites.
The OralVac products are a well-established group of sublingual immunotherapy SLIT treatments that aim to desensitise severe allergy patients to various common allergens. The oral formulation has proven to be acceptable in children and those who prefer to avoid needles. These products have been available for more than two decades in Germany and other European countries on a named patient basis.
Both companies believe there is room for substantial growth of the OralVac group of products, through the availability of a complete clinical trial data package, in addition to formal registration in new countries. Clinical trial data from this partnership will be used to complete the German TAV (Therapieallergene-Verordnung) programme from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, established to allow registration of these allergy products in Germany.
Under the terms of the agreement, Allergy Therapeutics will pay Ergomed a fee for conducting the clinical development activities and Ergomed will contribute in-kind to the development cost. In return, Ergomed will receive future tiered royalties for each product. As these products are already generating sales on a named patient basis, the royalties will start from the completion of the first Phase II study.
Dr Miroslav Reljanovic, Executive Vice-Chairman of Ergomed, said: "We are excited to join in the further development of these products which have established an important presence in the market. Ergomed has extensive experience in conducting clinical research in the field of allergy therapies, and so this is a natural therapy area for our next co-development project."
Manuel Llobet, Chief Executive Officer of Allergy Therapeutics, added: "Ergomed has an excellent track record in successfully completing specialist studies and particular experience with allergy products. We're pleased to be working with the team and look forward to jointly accelerating the licencing of OralVac products in Europe."
ENDS
Enquiries:
Ergomed plc | Tel: +44 (0) 1483 503205 | |
Dan Weng (Chief Executive Officer) | ||
Stephen Stamp (Chief Financial Officer) | ||
Numis Securities Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7260 1000 | |
Michael Meade / Freddie Barnfield (Nominated Adviser) | ||
James Black (Joint Broker) | ||
N+1 Singer | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7496 3000 | |
Alex Price (Joint Broker) | ||
Consilium Strategic Communications - for UK enquiries | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5700 | |
Chris Gardner / Mary-Jane Elliott Ivar Milligan / Philippa Gardner | ergomed@consilium-comms.com | |
MC Services - for Continental European enquiries | Tel: +49 211 5292 5222 | |
Anne Hennecke | ||
About Ergomed
Ergomed provides specialist services to the pharmaceutical industry and develops drugs both wholly-owned and through partnerships. Ergomed's fast-growing, profitable service offering spans all phases of clinical development and post-approval pharmacovigilance and medical information. Drawing on more than 20 years of expertise in drug development, Ergomed is also building a growing portfolio of drug development partnerships and programmes, including wholly-owned proprietary products for the treatment of surgical bleeding. For further information, visit: http://ergomedplc.com.
About Allergy Therapeutics
Allergy Therapeutics is an international specialty pharmaceutical group focussed on the treatment and diagnosis of allergic disorders including immunotherapy vaccines that have the potential to cure disease. The Group sells proprietary products and third party products from its subsidiaries in nine major European countries and via distribution agreements in an additional ten countries. Its broad pipeline of products in clinical development include vaccines for grass, tree and house dust mite, and peanut allergy vaccine in pre-clinical development. Adjuvant systems to boost performance of vaccines outside allergy are also in development.
Formed in 1999 out of Smith Kline Beecham, Allergy Therapeutics is headquartered in Worthing, UK with more than 11,000m2 of state-of-the-art MHRA-approved manufacturing facilities and laboratories. The Group employs c.500 employees and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (AIM:AGY). For more information, please see www.allergytherapeutics.com.