Selecta Biosciences and Sanofi to collaborate on allergy vaccines

Sanofi will use Selecta's proprietary synthetic vaccine particle technology to develop highly targeted immunotherapies against life-threatening allergens.

Selecta Biosciences has announced a new collaboration with Sanofi which will see the two companies team up to discover new immunotherapies for serious allergies.

Under the terms of the global agreement, Sanofi will have an exclusive licence to develop a highly targeted, antigen-specific immunotherapy against a life-threatening food allergen, based on Selecta's proprietary Synthetic Vaccine Particle (SVP) platform.

Sanofi will also have an option to develop two additional candidate immunotherapies for allergies to a specific food or aeroallergen.

Dr Werner Cautreels, president and chief executive officer of Selecta, said he was "very pleased" by Sanofi's interest in the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company's immunotherapy platform.

"In allergies, as well as autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation and protein replacement therapies, there is a lack of specific, effective and safe treatments to prevent undesired immune reactions," he observed.

"Our approach addresses the underlying causes of these diseases and thereby makes advances beyond today's symptomatic treatments and allergen avoidance strategies."
Selecta's technology enables researchers to engineer nanoparticles that produce immune tolerance for therapeutic and prophylactic applications.
The company will be eligible for pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and sales milestones amounting to $300 million per allergen indication, as well as double-digit tiered royalties on any product sales resulting from the collaboration.