Ablynx Receives Funds From IWT, Portugal For Pre-clinical Development Programmes

Ablynx said that IWT grant will help the company to accelerate ALX-0171 pre-clinical development programme for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.

In the trial, ALX-0171 will be administered via the lungs and based on in-vivo data, it has the potential to be effective both in the prevention of infection as well as in treatment once infection has occurred.

Ablynx claimed that ALX-0171 is its first Nanobody pre-clinical development candidate to be delivered through a route other than injection. ALX-0171 is very stable, making it suitable for inhalation. It can also be manufactured at relatively low cost in microbial systems.

Additionally, the grant from the Portuguese government is expected to help Ablynx and its collaborators, to explore routes of delivery for Nanobodies into the central nervous system (CNS) and to develop Nanobody-based therapies for CNS diseases.

Edwin Moses, chairman and CEO of Ablynx, said: “We are delighted with IWT’s continued support of Ablynx’s Nanobody platform as well as with this second grant from the Portuguese government which will allow us to further explore and develop Nanobody-based therapies for CNS diseases where the unmet medical need is very high. Today, we have over 25 therapeutic programmes in our pipeline with four Nanobody products in clinical development.”