Neovacs to collaborate with the Sunnybrook Resear

PARIS and BOSTON, Jan. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neovacs (Alternext Paris:ALNEV) a leader in active immunotherapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, today announced its collaboration with Professor Robert Kerbel and his team at the Sunnybrook Research Institute of Toronto, Canada for preclinical development of Neovacs’ VEGF Kinoid, specifically to obtain the proof of concept for the treatment of colorectal and ovarian cancer.

The Neovacs technology presents a major new therapeutic opportunity for these types of cancers where the VEGF-A (vascular endothelial growth factor) protein plays an important role in the vascularization of the tumor. Indeed the Neovacs approach, based on active immunotherapy, aims to enhance the immune system of the patient by enabling it to produce self-polyclonal antibodies, which will selectively target and neutralize the cytokine VEGF-A. For these types of cancer the neutralization of VEGF-A could prevent tumor growth and development of metastases.

Professor Robert Kerbel  has contributed to a large number of preclinical trials and overseen numerous international clinical trials in cancer. “Our cooperation with Neovacs demonstrates the commitment of the Sunnybrook Research Institute to contribute to the development of innovative therapies in cancer. Thanks to this agreement we hope to enable patients suffering from a colorectal or ovarian cancer to benefit from an innovative and potentially very efficient therapy,” said Professor Robert Kerbel.

Geraldine Grouard-Vogel , PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Neovacs added, “This partnership with an internationally respected scientific research center, the Sunnybrook Research Institute, demonstrates the interest shown by the scientific community towards our technology.”

According to the business development plan announced in 2016, Neovacs is currently running two clinical trials in Lupus (SLE) and Dermatomyositis with IFNα Kinoid and has two additional programs in preclinical development: IFNα Kinoid to treat Type 1 diabetes and VEGF Kinoid to treat colorectal and ovarian cancer.

About Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) is a fully affiliated research and teaching hospital with the University of Toronto. Research spans three Toronto-based campuses: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Holland Musculoskeletal Centre and St. John's Rehab. Total research funding for 2014/2015 was $96.6 million. Research space at Sunnybrook comprises 500,000 square feet, including 150,000 square feet for the world's first Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics. Sunnybrook Research Institute has more than 300  scientists and clinician-scientists . In total, Sunnybrook Research Institute has 1,212 research staff. Working with scientists are 465 highly skilled biomedical and research personnel and 446 postdoctoral fellows and other trainees. All scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute teach at the University of Toronto; within the faculty of medicine 8 Sunnybrook Research Institute researchers hold Canada Research Chairs, the most prestigious award granted by the federal government. http://sunnybrook.ca

About Neovacs Created in 1993, Neovacs is today a leading biotechnology company focused on an active immunotherapy technology platform (Kinoids) with applications in autoimmune and/or inflammatory diseases. On the basis of the company’s proprietary technology for inducing a polyclonal immune response (covered by five patent families that potentially run until 2032) Neovacs is focusing its clinical development efforts on IFNα-Kinoid, an immunotherapy being developed for the indication of lupus and dermatomyositis. Neovacs is also conducting preclinical development works on other therapeutic vaccines in the fields of auto-immune diseases, oncology and allergies. The goal of the Kinoid approach is to enable patients to have access to safe treatments with efficacy that is sustained in these life-long diseases. www.neovacs.fr

Contacts                                                                NEOVACS – Corporate Communication & Investor Relations Charlène Masson +33 (0)1 53 10 93 14 cmasson@neovacs.com LIFE SCI ADVISORS- Investor Relations / Financial Communications – Chris Maggos chris@lifesciadvisors.com