Tampere, Finland – Vactech Oy (Vactech), a biotechnology company focused on development of vaccines for Type 1 Diabetes and other immune mediated diseases, today announced that the European Patent Office has issued EPO Patent 2,225,366 related to diagnostics, and treatment and prevention of Celiac Disease.

Field of the invention

The invention relates to diagnostics, and treatment and prevention of Celiac Disease. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for diagnosing, and compounds and compositions for treating and preventing celiac disease, to a method for monitoring the treatment of said disease and to the use of substances preventing enteroviruses for the manufacture of a pharmaceutical or a vaccine against this disease.

For some people gluten causes certain diseases, or these diseases are at least in some way associated with gluten intolerance. The best-known of these diseases is Celiac Disease but there are also other diseases related to gluten-sensitivity that are found on the skin, teeth, bones and in the nervous system. The present invention describes for the first time that enterovirus is present on the intestinal mucous membrane of patients with Celiac Disease and can be discovered from biopsy samples taken from the intestinal mucous membrane.

"Vactech's main focus is in the development of a preventive vaccine against Type 1 Diabetes. However, in order to utilize our expertise on immune mediated diseases and enterovirues we will strengthen our patent portfolio with synergetic inventions. This strategy provides us an IPR source for future projects or out licensing and increases the company value accordingly. The granted EPO patent fits nicely in this picture", said Raimo Harju, CEO of Vactech.

About Vactech

Vactech develops and licenses vaccines and novel technologies for vaccines and diagnostics with a pipeline of early stage product candidates focused on Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Disease, Asthma & Allergy and diagnostics.

Vactech’s flagship project is a patented enterovirus based preventive Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) vaccine, similar to the widely used enterovirus vaccine against polio. The vaccine is a traditional inactivated vaccine and it has been proved to be safe and effective in mice. In addition, Vactech’s IMAVAC™ product line uses Virus Like Particle (VLP) technology which is essential for other vaccines, immunomodulators and diagnostic applications.

Vactech is a privately owned company. We have a track record of collaboration with big pharma on the level of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). We consider ourselves as an attractive investment target for those that believe in and want to grow with our mission.

For more information contact:

Please see the company's website at www.vactech.fi for additional information or contact:

Raimo Harju, CEO

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