Selecta Biosciences Receives Exclusive Rights to Peanut Allergy and Celiac Disease Programs

WATERTOWN, Mass., Nov. 10, 2016 -- Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SELB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of targeted antigen-specific immune therapies, today announced that it is receiving worldwide rights to intellectual property, data and materials generated through a discovery collaboration initiated and funded by Sanofi for the development of product candidates to treat peanut allergy and celiac disease. This follows Sanofi’s strategic review of its R&D portfolio, which resulted in a decision to exit this collaboration with Selecta. The transition of these discovery programs is not expected to have a material impact on Selecta’s cash runway.

Selecta continues to focus its core activities on the development of biologic therapies that leverage its immune tolerance Synthetic Vaccine Particles (SVP™) platform to prevent unwanted immunogenicity. This is exemplified by the company’s lead Phase 2 clinical program, SEL-212, for the treatment of chronic refractory and tophaceous gout, as well as by its development of proprietary gene therapy product candidates and technologies. As was the case with the Sanofi collaboration, the company intends to partner or out-license its SVP technology for indications that are outside its core areas of focus.

Selecta and Sanofi entered into a license and research collaboration agreement focused on peanut allergy in November 2012. As a result of the research performed under this collaboration, the companies developed a research vaccine candidate that encapsulates peanut extract and an immune stimulating adjuvant using Selecta’s SVP technology. This research candidate has demonstrated rapid onset and long duration of therapeutic activity in animal models of allergy. In May 2015, Sanofi exercised an option to extend the agreement to celiac disease. Through this program, the companies developed an approach to use gluten with Selecta’s SVP technology. Selecta plans to evaluate strategic opportunities to continue advancing these non-core programs.

About Selecta Biosciences, Inc.

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 Particles (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, Selecta’s lead Phase 2 clinical program in chronic refractory 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 product candidates that activate the immune system to prevent and treat cancer, infections and other diseases.

Selecta is based in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. For more information, please visit http://selectabio.com. 

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about the future expectations, plans and prospects of Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (“the company”), including without limitation, statements regarding the impact of the company’s initial public offering on its financial position and the development of its pipeline, the progress of the Phase 1/2 clinical program of SEL-212 including the number of centers in the Phase 2 clinical trial of SEL-212 and the announcement of data, conference presentations, 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 products utilizing the SVP platform, any future development of the company’s discovery programs in peanut allergy and celiac disease, 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, but not limited to, the following: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation, completion and cost of clinical trials including their uncertain outcomes, the availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a particular 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, its inability to protect its proprietary technology and intellectual property, potential delays in regulatory approvals, the 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 important factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on August 9, 2016, and in other filings that the company makes with the SEC. 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. The company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.

Contact Information:
Jason Fredette
Selecta Biosciences, Inc.
617-231-8078
[email protected]