WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SELB), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a novel class of targeted antigen-specific immune therapies, announced today that members of company management or key collaborators will present preclinical data highlighting the potential of Selecta’s SVP-Rapamycin immunotherapeutic platform at two upcoming scientific conferences in October.
At the Annual Congress of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in Florence, Italy, Takashi Kei Kishimoto, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Selecta, will present preclinical findings in a poster presentation entitled “Antigen-specific modulation of capsid immunogenicity with tolerogenic nanoparticles results in successful AAV vector readministration” on Wednesday October 19, 2016 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (CET).
At the Eighth Annual Immunogenicity and Bioassay Summit in Baltimore, Maryland, Ira Pastan, MD, Senior Investigator, Head, Molecular Biology Section, and Ronit Mazor, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), will present preclinical results detailing the co-administration of SVP-Rapamycin with an investigational anti-cancer therapeutic. LMB-100 is a next generation recombinant immunotoxin and currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pastan will present a talk on “Strategies to Reduce Immune Response to Immunotoxins” and Dr. Mazor will present a talk on “Induction of Tolerance to Immunotoxins Using Nanoparticle Delivery of Rapamycin”, on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 11:15 a.m. (EDT). Dr. Mazor will also present a poster with the title “Nanoparticle-Encapsulated Rapamycin Prevents Primary and Secondary Immune Responses in Murine Models” on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 3:50 p.m. (EDT).
The presentations highlight the breadth of potential applications of SVP-Rapamycin, showcasing its ability to mitigate unwanted immune responses in otherwise immunogenic gene and cancer therapies. The results were obtained under the leadership of Dr. Ira Pastan at NIH and Dr. Federico Mingozzi at Genethon, both experienced investigators underscoring the effectiveness of Selecta’s externalized research approach.
Selecta’s lead product candidate SEL-212 applies SVP-Rapamycin to pegsiticase, a pegylated uricase. SEL-212 is designed to be the first non-immunogenic version of uricase, an immunogenic enzyme which targets uric acid. SEL-212 is in a Phase 1b clinical trial and is being developed for patients with chronic refractory and chronic tophaceous gout.
About Selecta
Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies that use immunomodulators encapsulated in nanoparticles to induce antigen-specific immune responses to prevent and treat disease. Selecta’s proprietary Synthetic Vaccine Particle (SVP) technology is a highly flexible nanoparticle platform, capable of incorporating a wide range of antigens and immunomodulators, allowing the SVP-based products to either induce antigen-specific tolerance or activate the immune system.
Selecta’s focus and strategy is to leverage its SVP immune modulating platform to develop and commercialize highly differentiated life-sustaining biologic drugs that are uniquely capable of mitigating the formation of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs). Proprietary programs that use SVP-Rapamycin to enhance efficacy and safety of therapy include SEL-212 for refractory and chronic tophaceous gout and two gene therapies programs for genetic metabolic diseases. Tolerance-inducing SVP biological products also have potential applications in the treatment of allergies and autoimmune diseases.
Selecta is also developing SVP products that activate the immune system to prevent and treat cancer, infections and other diseases.
Selecta is based in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA.
Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about Selecta’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including without limitation, statements regarding the impact of the Company’s initial public offering on its financial position and development of its pipeline, the timing of the Phase 2 clinical trial of SEL-212, including initiation, announcement of data, conference presentations, the number of centers in the Phase 2 clinical trial of SEL-212, the ability of the Company’s SVP platform, including SVP-Rapamycin, to mitigate immune response and create better therapeutic outcomes, the potential treatment applications for SVP products, the sufficiency of the Company’s cash, cash equivalents, investments, and restricted cash and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “hypothesize,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation, completion and cost of clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, the unproven approach of the Company’s SVP technology, potential delays in enrollment of patients, undesirable side effects of the Company’s product candidates, its reliance on third parties to manufacture its product candidates and to conduct its clinical trials, the Company’s inability to maintain its existing or future collaborations or licenses, expectations for regulatory approvals, availability of funding sufficient for its foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements, substantial fluctuation in the price of its common stock, a significant portion of the Company’s total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market in the near future, and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of Selecta’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2016, and in other filings that the Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Selecta specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.
CONTACT: For Selecta media: Kathryn Morris The Yates Network +1-845-635-9828 kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com For Selecta investors: Stephanie Ascher Stern Investor Relations, Inc. +1-212-362-1200 stephanie@sternir.com
