Evelo Biosciences & Abdul Latif Jameel Health Announce Strategic Collaboration to Develop & Commercialize Novel Therapy EDP1815 for Inflammatory Diseases & COVID-19 in Select Developing Markets Serving 1.7 Billion People
- Collaboration expected to accelerate access to Evelo’s lead inflammation product candidate and COVID-19 therapeutic medicine EDP1815 – if approved by relevant health authorities – to people in select developing markets and is Abdul Latif Jameel Health’s first biotechnology licensing agreement.
- The agreement launches Abdul Latif Jameel Health’s vision to accelerate access to affordable modern health care and address unmet medical care in high-growth developing markets.
- Combines Evelo’s leadership in inflammatory diseases and Abdul Latif Jameel’s regional distribution expertise.
CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA & DUBAI, UAE, March 23, 2021 – Evelo Biosciences (Nasdaq:EVLO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new modality of orally delivered medicines, and Abdul Latif Jameel Health, a company focused on accelerating access to affordable modern medical care while addressing unmet medical needs in developing markets around the world, and part of Abdul Latif Jameel, today announced that the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop and commercialize Evelo’s lead inflammation product candidate EDP1815 in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.
EDP1815 is an investigational oral medicine being developed for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Evelo recently reported positive Phase 1b data for EDP1815 in atopic dermatitis. The Company is also conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial for EDP1815 in psoriasis, as well as two trials in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Data from Phase 1b clinical trials of EDP1815 suggests its potential to be a safe, efficacious, oral, affordable, and room-temperature stable medicine that may be useful to treat patients worldwide at all stages of inflammatory disease.
Together, Evelo and Abdul Latif Jameel Health will work to address the significant disparity in access to medical care in the fastest-growing populations and growth economies of the developing world. Africa’s population is projected to reach 1.7 billion by 2030 and 2.5 billion by 2050, with annual spending on the continent expected to reach US $6.66 trillion by 2030, spurring growing markets in sectors including healthcare.[1],[2]
However, significant unmet need remains, and in certain areas, the availability of selected medicines is as low as 21% in the public, and 22% in the private, sector for some sub-Saharan African countries.2 Similarly, with the population of the Middle East and North Africa currently over 456 million,2 only an average of 61% of the
population in the Arab region can easily access health services, but this rate varies significantly between countries.[3]
“We are honored to be selected as Abdul Latif Jameel Health’s first therapeutic biotech collaborator,” said Simba Gill, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Evelo. “I have had the privilege to work with Akram Bouchenaki, CEO of Abdul Latif Jameel Health, for more than 20 years. He has deep experience building and developing successful businesses in this region, dating back to his tenure with Gilead. Akram’s leadership, combined with the extensive distribution expertise Abdul Latif Jameel has in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, makes this the ideal collaboration to help us achieve our goal of developing and commercializing medicines to address a broad range of inflammatory diseases for hundreds of millions of people.”
Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2020, Abdul Latif Jameel today is a global investor and diversified business operating in some 30 markets across six continents with deep roots in the Middle East, Turkey, and North Africa.
Abdul Latif Jameel maintains vast regional expertise and operations infrastructure and is committed to accelerating access to effective and affordable medicines for all those in need.
Evelo is Abdul Latif Jameel Health’s first biotechnology collaborator working to create effective and affordable medicines, and Abdul Latif Jameel Health will provide the critical resources needed to help realize this vision.
“We look forward to collaborating with Evelo to bring medicines to millions of people in the developing world,” said Akram Bouchenaki, Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Latif Jameel Health. “Evelo’s influential work in inflammatory diseases, combined with our longstanding relationship with Simba, reaffirms that Evelo is the right collaborator with whom to launch and rapidly grow our healthcare presence in some of the fastest-growing regions in the world.”
Fady Jameel, Deputy President, and Vice Chairman, Abdul Latif Jameel, restated the Jameel family’s long-standing commitment to innovating for a better future, including through Community Jameel, an international organization supporting science and technology-led solutions to global challenges, which co-founded the Jameel Clinic at MIT and the Jameel Institute at Imperial College London.
Fady stated, “Access to health care must be seen as an undeniable basic human right, irrespective of where people live or their economic means – just like water or shelter. Although a difficult and multifaceted problem, Abdul Latif Jameel Health, working with world leading biotechnologists, such as Evelo, is determined to be part of the solution.”
[1] A. Leke and L. Signé, “Spotlighting opportunities for business in Africa and strategies to succeed in the world’s next big growth market,” Brookings, Feb. 11, 2019.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/spotlighting-opportunities-for-business-in-africa-and-strategies-to-succeed-in-the-worlds-next-big-growth-market/. 2 UHC in Africa: A Framework for Action,” World Bank and World Health Organization. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/universalhealthcoverage/publication/universal-health-coverage-in-africa-a-framework-for-action
[2] “Population Total – MENA,” The World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZQ&name_desc=false.
[3] “Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Arab Region, An Opportunity to Build Back Better,” United Nations, July 2020. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=ZQ&name_desc=false.
