UCB and Ariceum Therapeutics sign a Strategic Research Collaboration to Discover New Modalities for the Treatment of Immune-related Diseases and Cancer

UCB and Ariceum Therapeutics sign a Strategic Research Collaboration to Discover New Modalities for the Treatment of Immune-related Diseases and Cancer

• UCB’s expertise in macrocyclic peptide discovery, using its proprietary mRNA-display platform, ExtremeDiversity™, will aid Ariceum’s discovery of treatments for solid tumors
• Ariceum’s expertise in radiopharmaceuticals and labelling technology will aid UCB’s discovery of treatments for immune-related diseases

Brussels (Belgium) and Berlin (Germany), 11th May 2023 - 07:30 CET - UCB (EURONEXT BRUSSELS: UCB), a global biopharmaceutical company and Ariceum Therapeutics (Ariceum), a private biotech company developing radiopharmaceutical products for the diagnosis and treatment of certain hard-to-treat cancers, today announced an exclusive strategic research collaboration agreement to identify and develop novel systemic targeted radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of immune-related diseases and solid tumors . 

Under the terms of the research collaboration, UCB and Ariceum will utilize each other’s proprietary technology platforms to enable the discovery of peptide-radioisotope conjugates as potential therapeutics for immune-related diseases and cancer. Ariceum will also gain access to UCB’s expertise to discover novel synthetic macrocyclic peptides using its mRNA-display technology platform, ExtremeDiversity™. UCB will benefit from Ariceum’s expertise in the field of radiochemistry and labelling technology to enhance its ability to explore how this technology might lead to the discovery of highly differentiated products for immune-related diseases. Both companies will have the opportunity to explore several targets under this research collaboration.

Dhaval Patel, Chief Scientific Officer of UCB, commented: "The collaboration with Ariceum further enhances our strategic drug discovery capabilities and provides UCB with the opportunity to learn and explore the potential of this modality in our drive to continuously innovate. We look forward to working with Ariceum’s scientists and are eager to leverage the technology platforms and disease expertise at each company.”

Manfred Rüdiger, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Ariceum Therapeutics, said: “We are excited about this strategic collaboration between UCB and Ariceum which aims to broaden Ariceum’s pipeline with potentially several new programs at discovery stage.  Through this partnership, Ariceum will have access to a unique library that will be used to screen against targets of interest for oncology for which current targeted approaches have failed while working with UCB on enabling targeted systemic radiotherapy approaches in other areas of severe diseases.” 

For further information 

UCB

R&D Communications - Scott Fleming; 
Scott.fleming@ucb.com / T +44 7702777378

Corporate Communications, Media Relations - Laurent Schots
laurent.schots@ucb.com / T +3225599264 

Investor Relations - Antje Witte
antje.witte@ucb.com / T +3225599414

Ariceum Therapeutics

Manfred Rüdiger, CEO
info@ariceum-therapeutics.com

Optimum Strategic Communications - Hollie Vile, Charlotte Hepburne-Scott, Zoe Bolt, Elena Bates
ariceum@optimumcomms.com / T +44 20 3882 9621

About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or the central nervous system. With approximately 8 700 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 5.5 billion in 2022. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB).

About Ariceum Therapeutics 
Ariceum Therapeutics (Ariceum) is a private, clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company focused on the diagnosis and precision treatment of certain neuroendocrine and other aggressive, hard-to-treat cancers. The name Ariceum is an anagram of ‘Marie Curie’ whose discovery of radium and polonium have been huge contributions to finding treatments for cancer. 

Ariceum Therapeutics, launched in 2021, acquired all rights from Ipsen. Ipsen remains a shareholder in the Company. Ariceum is headquartered in Berlin, with operations in Germany, Switzerland and Australia and activities currently across Europe, North America.

Ariceum is led by a highly experienced management team and supported by specialist investors including EQT Life Sciences (formerly LSP), HealthCap,  Pureos Bioventures, Andera Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital. For further information, please visit www.ariceum-therapeutics.com

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