PARIS, November 16, 2020 – 6:30 p.m. (CET) – Abivax (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 – ABVX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company harnessing the immune system to develop novel treatments for inflammatory diseases, viral diseases and cancer, announced today that it received the “Best Technology Award” at the European Mediscience Awards 2020. The Award recognizes solutions which are highly innovative, well-funded, and capable of significant commercial success and, out of the four shortlisted companies, Abivax’s technology was selected as the most deserving by this year’s Mediscience Voting Panel. Abivax received the award for ABX464, an innovative drug candidate with a novel, unique mechanism of action derived from the Company’s chemical library of over 2,200 small molecules. With its antiviral and anti-inflammatory effect as well as tissue repair properties that have been demonstrated in several pre-clinical as well as clinical studies, ABX464 has the potential to treat several severe, acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. ABX464’s clinical late-stage development programs currently focus on chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, particularly ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. ABX464 is also being tested in rheumatoid arthritis and, more recently, in Covid-19 to evaluate its potential to prevent hyper-inflammation and to inhibit the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in high-risk patients. The Company is constantly exploring further indications where ABX464 might be beneficial for patients. “We are proud and feel honored to receive the “Best Technology Award” and I would like to thank the entire Abivax team for their efforts and commitment. This distinction once again validates the promising potential of our drug candidate, ABX464. The recently published two-year data of the Phase 2a maintenance study in ulcerative colitis confirmed its good safety profile along with promising short- and long-term clinical efficacy,” said Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich, M.D., CEO of Abivax. “Abivax’s lead molecule has the potential to become the first in a novel class of oral and easy administrable drugs that could be a game changer in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, a huge market with a high unmet medical need. We look forward to further exploring and developing the full potential of ABX464 for the benefit of all patients in need of novel therapeutic management options.” About ABX464’s Mechanism of Action ABX464 is a highly differentiated oral drug candidate, with a novel mechanism of action based on the upregulation of a single microRNA (miR-124) with potent anti-inflammatory properties. ABX464 was shown to exert its anti-inflammatory effects through binding to the cap binding complex (CBC), which sits at the 5’ end of every RNA molecule in the cell. By binding to the CBC, ABX464 reinforces the biological functions of CBC in cellular RNA biogenesis. Specifically, ABX464 enhances the selective splicing of a single long non-coding RNA to generate the anti-inflammatory microRNA, miR-124, which downregulates pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines like TNF-α, IL-6 and MCP-1, thereby “putting a brake” on inflammation and suggesting broad potential as a novel anti-inflammatory therapeutic agent. A seven- to ten-fold increase in miRNA-124 levels was observed in colorectal biopsies of UC patients treated with ABX464. ABX464 does not impact the splicing of cellular genes.
