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Aligos Therapeutics is awarded €1.8M VLAIO grant to advance chronic hepatitis B research
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and LEUVEN, Belgium, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGS), a clinical stage
About this update from Aligos Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. and LEUVEN, Belgium, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALGS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs in viral and liver diseases, today announced that its Belgian subsidiary Aligos Belgium BV has been awarded a €1.8M grant by the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) to support a nonclinical research project related to combination therapy for Hepatitis B at Aligos (CoHeBA).\n “CoHeBA aims to elucidate the mechanism of action of the therapeutic candidates for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) currently in development at Aligos,” said Yannick Debing, Ph.D., principal scientist and lead on the project application. “The support from VLAIO will allow us to collaborate with some of the most esteemed leaders in the hepatitis B field to identify how Aligos’ CHB assets target components of the hepatitis B virus life cycle. Developing a greater understanding of the candidates’ mechanism of action will empower our scientific team to develop pharmacologically best-in-class therapies.” The three-year project will include collaborations with the laboratories of Prof. Jan Paeshuyse (KU Leuven, Belgium), Profs. Stephen Locarnini and Hans Netter (VIDRL, Melbourne, Australia), Profs. Patrick Kennedy and Upkar Gill (Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom), and Profs. Thomas Baumert and Eloi Verrier (INSERM U1110, University of Strasbourg, France). “Our team at Aligos Belgium BV contributes greatly to our success in discovering potential therapies for an infection that affects hundreds of millions of people, increasing their risk of end-stage liver disease,” said Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Aligos. “We expect that the outcomes of this project will help us design the most promising combination therapies and next-generation therapeutics for those patients.” About Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) CHB is a major cause of chronic liver disease that affects over 290 million people worldwide. Serious complications of CHB include cirrhosis and liver cancer, which are associated with significant mortality. Approximately 900,000 people died from CHB-related causes in 2015 alone and the mortality rate associated with HBV-related liver cancer continues to increase. Although current sta...