• 09 Aug 2024
• Admin
• News Article

Seres Therapeutics Inks Agreement with Société Des Produits Nestlé SA

Seres Therapeutics inks agreement with Société des Produits Nestlé SA for sale of its VOWST business to Nestlé Health Science

Overview

Seres Therapeutics, a leading live biotherapeutics company, announced that it has signed an agreement with Société des Produits Nestlé S.A (Nestlé) for the sale of its VOWST business to Nestlé Health Science. Upon deal closing, Seres will receive capital infusions, including an upfront payment, a prepaid milestone payment and an equity investment. In addition, Seres is due to receive installment payments in 2025, as well as potential future payments based on VOWST net sales targets.

Seres Supporting VOWST Availability

• Seres will support ongoing VOWST availability by providing transition services through the first quarter of 2025 and manufacturing support through the end of 2025 (subject to limited extension rights by Nestlé) and will continue to share 50/50 in the profit and loss of the business through the end of 2025. 
• The completion of the transaction, which is subject to Seres’ shareholder approval and other customary conditions, is expected to occur in the next 90 days.

Words from the CEO: Seres

• “This transaction provides meaningful capital to support Seres’ pipeline advancement and our focus on improving patient outcomes in medically vulnerable populations through the use of cultivated live biotherapeutics,” said Eric Shaff, president and CEO of Seres. 
• “We are proud of our accomplishments in bringing VOWST to the market as the first ever US FDA-approved oral microbiome therapy with an outstanding efficacy and safety profile and now look forward to applying our approach to transform care in new patient groups.” 
• “As part of the transaction, a number of our talented colleagues will move to Nestlé Health Science – we thank these team members for their contributions to Seres and to developing, manufacturing, and launching VOWST. We also would like to acknowledge Nestlé Health Science as a long-time collaborator and wish them tremendous success as they continue to deliver VOWST to patients and grow the business.”
• Shaff continued, “We will use the capital from this transaction to strengthen our balance sheet, retire our existing debt facility, and advance our pipeline. Our lead SER-155 programme remains on track to provide clinical results from the placebo-controlled Cohort 2 segment of the ongoing study in patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) in September.” 
• “SER-155 is designed to prevent gastrointestinal (“GI”)-derived infections and resulting bloodstream infections, as well as induce immune tolerance responses to reduce the incidence of graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD) and, if successful, could profoundly improve patient outcomes. In addition to SER-155, we are developing other cultivated live biotherapeutic candidates for multiple medically vulnerable patient groups, including potentially those with chronic liver disease, cancer neutropenia, and solid organ transplants. Seres’ therapeutic approach could protect these patients from life-threatening infections, thereby creating significant commercial opportunities.”