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
• Potential to expand Ariceum's pipeline with three new programs at discovery stage

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

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.

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."

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."

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's lead targeted systemic radiopharmaceutical product, ¹⁷⁷Lu-satoreotide tetraxetan ("satoreotide") is an antagonist of the somatostatin type 2 (SST₂) receptor which is overexpressed in neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and some aggressive cancers such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC), all of which have few treatment options and poor prognosis. Satoreotide is being developed as a 'theranostic' pair for the combined diagnosis and targeted radionuclide treatment of these tumours.

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, Australia and Switzerland and activities currently across Europe, North America and Australia.

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

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). 

SOURCE Ariceum Therapeutics