MARSEILLE, France, June 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VECT-HORUS, a biotechnology company that designs and develops peptide vectors that facilitate the delivery of drugs or imaging agents, notably in the brain, is announcing today the signing of a scientific collaboration agreement with SERVIER. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of this agreement. This collaboration is part of VECT-HORUS' framework strategy, which is to use its proprietary technology to enter into R&D agreements with biopharmaceutical companies to generate patentable new chemical entities (NCEs), based on the vectorization of their drug candidates.
This collaboration agreement with SERVIER, first independent French pharmaceutical research company, reflects the growing interest in the drug delivery platform developed by VECT-HORUS. " This research program, based on receptor targeting to facilitates delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain, is a true recognition of our scientific strategy ", says Alexandre Tokay, co-founder and CEO of VECT-HORUS.
The main objective of VECT-HORUS' innovative technology is to address drug delivery across the vascular system of the brain called the blood brain barrier (BBB) that impedes most drugs from accessing the nervous tissue. VECT-HORUS thus designs and develops peptide vectors that facilitate the delivery of drugs or imaging agents into different tissues, including nervous tissue, thereby allowing the treatment of CNS disorders, which represent a high unmet medical need and are already the second largest therapeutic market worldwide.
The scientific strategy of the company is based on the principle that the BBB is not only a physical barrier that must be crossed, but also a functional barrier whose natural transport mechanisms may be advantageously used to deliver drugs into the brain. The peptide-vectors developed by VECT-HORUS use endogenous transport mechanisms to facilitate the passage of drugs or imaging agents across the BBB, into the pathological brain
About SERVIER
SERVIER is an independent French research-based pharmaceutical company. Its development is driven by the pursuit of innovation in the therapeutic areas of cardiovascular, metabolic, central nervous system, psychiatric, bone, muscle and joint diseases, as well as cancer.
In 2014, the company recorded a turnover of 4 billion euros.
92% of SERVIER medicines are prescribed outside of France.
28% of turnover from SERVIER drugs was reinvested in Research and Development in 2014.
With a strong international presence in 146 countries, SERVIER employs more than 21,400 people worldwide.
More information is available at: www.servier.com
About VECT-HORUS
VECT-HORUS is a French biotechnology company that designs and develops peptide-vectors to facilitate the delivery of drugs or imaging agents toward the brain and other organs. By combining pharmaceutical agents to peptide vectors, VECT-HORUS enables their transport across the BBB that significantly impedes brain delivery of most drugs.
From this perspective, VECT-HORUS has identified and validated highly specific and stable vectors protected by several families of patents and patent applications.
The company has already demonstrated proof of concept of the technology in animal models by vectorizing different molecules, among them the endogenous neuropeptide neurotensin, which is currently in regulatory preclinical studies. The technology has also enabled the signing of a scientific collaboration agreement with SANOFI in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.
Founded in 2005, VECT-HORUS is a spin-off from the CNRS-AMU NICN laboratory directed by Dr. Michel Khrestchatisky. Its founders are Alexandre Tokay, Chairman, and Michel Khrestchatisky, Scientific Counsel. VECT-HORUS has 17 employees, mostly in R&D.
VECT-HORUS is identified by the CNRS as one of the 15 success stories among 1,000 spinoffs from its laboratories.
More about VECT-HORUS at www.vect-horus.com
Contacts
ATCG Press Marie PUVIEUX +33 6 10 54 36 72 (France) Jean-Mehdi GRANGEON +33 (0)6 62 22 00 24 (UK/USA) presse@atcg-partners.com
VECT-HORUS Alexandre TOKAY CEO and co-founder + 33 6 30 40 36 95 alexandre.tokay@vect-horus.com
PR VECT-HORUS & SERVIER http://hugin.info/164689/R/1928769/692650.pdf
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