Vedanta Biosciences CEO Receives 2019 Immigrant Entrepreneur Award
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vedanta Biosciences, a clinical-stage company developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on defined bacterial consortia, is pleased to announce that its co-founder and CEO Bernat Olle, Ph.D., received the 2019 Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award from The Immigrant Learning Center in the Life Science Business category. This award honors the outstanding contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses in Massachusetts, including their impact on the innovation economy and service to local neighborhoods.
“I am honored to be recognized with this award,” Dr. Olle said. “Vedanta Biosciences has benefited enormously from access to a global talent pool in Massachusetts, where entrepreneurial and skilled immigrants from around the world are welcomed.”
Dr. Olle was previously named "Innovator of the Year" in MIT Technology Review Spain's "Innovators under 35" awards in 2013, and a “40 under 40” honoree by Boston Business Journal in 2018. Vedanta was also included on FierceBiotech’s Fierce 15 list in 2016.
About Vedanta Biosciences
Vedanta Biosciences is a clinical-stage microbiome leader developing a new category of therapies for immune-mediated diseases based on rationally-defined consortia of human microbiome-derived bacteria. Vedanta’s proprietary capabilities include what is believed to be the largest collection of human-gut associated bacteria, assays and bioinformatics techniques for consortia design and optimization, vast datasets from human interventional studies and facilities for cGMP-compliant manufacturing of rationally-defined bacterial consortia in powder form.
Vedanta Biosciences' pioneering work, in collaboration with its scientific co-founders, has led to the identification of human commensal bacteria that induce a range of immune responses – including induction of regulatory T cells, CD8+ T cells, and Th17 cells, among others. These advances have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Science (multiple), Nature (2013, 2019), Cell, and Nature Immunology. Vedanta Biosciences has harnessed these biological insights and its capabilities to generate a pipeline of investigational live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) in infectious disease, autoimmune disease, allergy, and immuno-oncology. This pipeline includes three clinical-stage product candidates currently being evaluated for the treatment of recurrent C. difficile infection and inflammatory bowel disease (in collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc.), and food allergy, as well as a fourth product candidate expected to enter the clinic in 2019 in patients with advanced or metastatic cancers (in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s checkpoint inhibitor OPDIVO®).
Vedanta’s IP portfolio contains over 30 issued patents with coverage extending to 2037. Vedanta Biosciences was founded by PureTech Health (LSE:PRTC). Its scientific co-founders are world-renowned experts in immunology and microbiology who have pioneered the fields of innate immunity, Th17 and regulatory T cell biology.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments, and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Investors
Allison Mead Talbot
+1 617 651 3156
amt@puretechhealth.com
U.S. media
Tom Donovan
+1 857 559 3397
tom@tenbridgecommunications.com
Source: Vedanta Biosciences