Vicore Pharma Holding AB (publ) (“Vicore”), a rare disease pharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines for fibrotic lung disorders such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), today announces the signing of an agreement with Alex Therapeutics AB for the development and clinical validation of a digital therapeutic (DTx) built on the “Alex DTx Platform”. Vicore will hold a webinar at 15:00 CET (9 AM EST) today to outline the strategic importance and operational details of the new program.
The agreement with Alex Therapeutics marks the initiation of a new clinical program for Vicore (VP04) – the joint development and commercialization of a clinically validated digital therapeutic (DTx) will provide cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for patients suffering from IPF. Under the agreement, Vicore will own all rights to VP04 in exchange for an upfront payment to Alex Therapeutics of 8.1 MSEK (1 MUSD), plus potential milestone payments and royalties on sales.
VP04 expands Vicore’s existing therapeutic programs in IPF and other severe respiratory diseases. The digital therapeutic will be designed to provide CBT to IPF patients, in parallel to routine consultations with medical professionals, to help improve their quality of life and support them through the psychological impacts of disease and its diagnosis. Working closely with patient groups and healthcare providers, Vicore and Alex Therapeutics expect to begin the clinical trial of VP04 in 2022.
“The VP04 program is part of Vicore’s goal of addressing the totality of unmet medical needs in IPF,” said Carl-Johan Dalsgaard, CEO of Vicore. “While our highly promising VP01 and VP02 programs target the underlying causes and major physical symptoms of the disease, VP04 will address the psychological impact patients diagnosed with IPF often experience. We are very pleased to work with an experienced co-development partner like Alex Therapeutics to advance the clinical validation of VP04 and bring therapeutic solutions to IPF patients that address several dimensions of their disease.”
To drive the VP04 program, Vicore has recently recruited Jessica Shull as Head of Digital Therapeutics. She brings more than 20 years’ experience in the development and adoption of digital healthcare technologies and has provided expertise on digital health best practices and policy for the WHO and the Digital Therapeutics Alliance.
The partnership will utilize Alex Therapeutics’ validated AI-powered digital therapeutics platform “Alex DTx Platform”. The platform combines evidence-based methods such as CBT with AI and is used to develop personalized treatments to cover unmet needs among patients worldwide.
“Vicore’s deep expertise in IPF and other severe lung diseases is highly complementary to our experience and technology” said John Drakenberg Renander, CEO of Alex Therapeutics. “The integration of digital therapeutics in healthcare is growing rapidly, and there are already clear regulatory pathways and commercial opportunities that bring validated benefits to patients.”
