SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., ATLANTA, June 23, 2020 – Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. (Aligos), a private biotechnology company focused on the development of antiviral therapies targeting chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and COVID-19 as well as therapeutics for NASH, announced an expansion to their existing license agreement with Emory University (Emory) to include additional technology developed at Emory related to Aligos’ capsid assembly modulator (CAM) program in CHB. Aligos and Emory have also entered into a collaboration agreement to futher advance this technology.

The license expansion builds upon the parties’ existing agreement whereby Aligos acquired from Emory an exclusive license to technology with respect to a novel class of non-nucleoside class-II CAMs. Professor Raymond F. Schinazi, director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory, and colleagues have developed a series of potent, novel CAMs, small molecules that disrupt viral capsid assembly. Aligos is advancing its CAM program as part of a CHB portfolio designed to produce a combination therapy delivering a high rate of functional cure. Each program in the portfolio targets clinically validated mechanisms in the replication cycle of the hepatitis B virus.

“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Emory by adding a wider range of potential drug candidates to our CAM discovery and development programs,” said Aligos CEO Lawrence Blatt, Ph.D., MBA. “Building upon the foundation established in 2018, we plan to further explore the technology Dr. Schinazi and his group at Emory have developed in an effort to create a best-in-class combination therapy for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis B.”

Raymond F. Schinazi, Ph.D., D.Sc., FAASLD (Pediatrics) at Emory, added, “We are pleased to collaborate with a very experienced group of scientists at Aligos towards an HBV cure. Together we have optimized our compounds providing potency in the picomolar range with a favorable preclinical safety profile. Clearly a fixed dose combination will not only prevent or reduce the likelihood of drug resistance, but will also provide a powerful blow to the virus capsid, which is essential for virus replication and persistence.”