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 2,114,448 related to decreasing the risk of allergic sensitization and its progression to clinical illnesses.

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to decreasing the risk of allergic sensitization, especially IgE mediated sensitization, and its progression to clinical illness whereby allergic diseases such as asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis may be prevented or treated. More precisely the present invention relates to the use of a particular virus in the manufacture of a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating a disease associated with allergic sensitization.

The prevalence of allergic diseases has constantly increased in the developed countries during recent decades. The immune system of a newborn infant is immature, and develops during the first months and years of childhood. Healthy children develop an immune response against pathogens in their environment, whereas an increasing proportion of the children develop an allergic response against non-harmful factors in the environment leading to allergic diseases.

The present invention is based on the use of a virus-derived product for preventing or treating a disease associated with allergic sensitization. In particular the invention provides the use of enterovirus in the manufacture of a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating such disease.

"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 and increases the company value accordingly. The granted EPO patent completes our protected IPR in the field of Asthma & Allergy with earlier approvals in US, Russia, Australia and some smaller countries", 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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