2 August 2021 - - US-based clinical-stage messenger RNA medicines company Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT) has inked an agreement with Vinbiocare biotechnology Joint Stock Company, a member of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, regarding a collaboration to establish a manufacturing facility in Vietnam for the manufacture of Arcturus' investigational COVID-19 vaccines, for sale and use within Vietnam, the company said.

Under the terms of the arrangement, Vinbiocare will, with consultation from Arcturus, build out a manufacturing facility in Vietnam, and Arcturus will provide to Vinbiocare access to proprietary technologies and processes for the manufacture of Arcturus' investigational COVID-19 vaccines.

Arcturus will provide Vinbiocare with an exclusive license to manufacture the vaccines in Vietnam at the facility solely for distribution in Vietnam.

The license and technology transfer applies toward drug product manufacturing but not toward mRNA drug substance manufacturing. Technology transfer is underway.

Vinbiocare will make an upfront payment of USD 40m and be responsible for costs associated with the technology transfer. Vinbiocare will also pay for mRNA drug substance supplied by Arcturus and royalties on vaccines produced at the Facility.

Arcturus investigational COVID-19 vaccines utilize Arcturus' self-transcribing and replicating (STARR) mRNA technology, and the STARR mRNA is delivered with Arcturus's lipid-mediated delivery system called LUNAR delivery system.

Founded in 2013 and based in San Diego, California, Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT) is a clinical-stage mRNA medicines and vaccines company with enabling technologies: LUNAR lipid-mediated delivery, STARR mRNA Technology and mRNA drug substance along with drug product manufacturing expertise.

Arcturus' diverse pipeline of RNA therapeutic and vaccine candidates includes mRNA vaccine programs for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Influenza, and other programs to potentially treat Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency, and Cystic Fibrosis along with partnered programs including Glycogen Storage Disease Type 3, Hepatitis B Virus, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Arcturus' versatile RNA therapeutics platforms can be applied toward multiple types of nucleic acid medicines including messenger RNA, small interfering RNA, replicon RNA, antisense RNA, microRNA, DNA, and gene editing therapeutics.

Arcturus' technologies are covered by its extensive patent portfolio (222 patents and patent applications, issued in the US, Europe, Japan, China and other countries).

Arcturus' commitment to the development of novel RNA therapeutics has led to collaborations with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical company Ltd., CureVac AG, Synthetic Genomics Inc., Duke-NUS Medical School, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Vingroup is the largest private industry conglomerate in Vietnam and one of the largest in Asia.