The two companies intend to enter in a collaboration agreement to develop new therapeutic molecules in the field of central nervous system (CNS) diseases
VECT-HORUS, a biotechnology company that designs and develops peptide vectors that facilitate the delivery of drugs or imaging agents, notably in the brain, is announcing today the signing of a scientific collaboration agreement with SERVIER. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of this agreement. This collaboration is part of VECT-HORUS’ framework strategy, which is to use its proprietary technology to enter into R&D agreements with biopharmaceutical companies to generate patentable new chemical entities (NCEs), based on the vectorization of their drug candidates.
This collaboration agreement with SERVIER, first independent French pharmaceutical research company, reflects the growing interest in the drug delivery platform developed by VECT-HORUS. “This research program, based on receptor targeting to facilitates delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain, is a true recognition of our scientific strategy”, says Alexandre Tokay, co-founder and CEO of VECT-HORUS.
The main objective of VECT-HORUS’ innovative technology is to address drug delivery across the vascular system of the brain called the blood brain barrier (BBB) that impedes most drugs from accessing the nervous tissue. VECT-HORUS thus designs and develops peptide vectors that facilitate the delivery of drugs or imaging agents into different tissues, including nervous tissue, thereby allowing the treatment of CNS disorders, which represent a high unmet medical need and are already the second largest therapeutic market worldwide.
The scientific strategy of the company is based on the principle that the BBB is not only a physical barrier that must be crossed, but also a functional barrier whose natural transport mechanisms may be advantageously used to deliver drugs into the brain. The peptide-vectors developed by VECT-HORUS use endogenous transport mechanisms to facilitate the passage of drugs or imaging agents across the BBB, into the pathological brain.