Finance, Grants, Deals

A new venture capital fund backed by a syndicate of Swedish and Danish institutions, has been launched in the Nordic region to support promising life science companies. The fund, Eir Ventures I AB, is registered in Sweden as an alternative investment fund and will operate from offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen. On 10 July, it announced a first close of  €76 million.

Kiadis Pharma NV has secured its first major deal for a technology that involves the use of natural killer (NK) cells to detect and kill cancer. Under a collaboration with Sanofi SA, Kiadis will out-license rights to a preclinical asset for multiple myeloma as well as rights to two other undisclosed preclinical programmes.

Forbion Capital Partners has secured €185 million for the first close of a new venture fund that will support European companies with late-stage assets. The new Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund is being supported by returning investors Pantheon, a US private equity group; KfW Capital GmbH of Germany; and the European Investment Fund, a lending agency of the EU. New investors include Eli Lilly and Co, Horizon Therapeutics Plc, Belgian Growth Fund and New Waves Investments.

An experimental treatment for patients who experience spontaneous bleeding from anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin has received financial support from an investor syndicate led by Ysios Capital and INKEF Capital. The treatment is being developed by the Dutch company VarmX BV in order to reverse the life-threatening bleeding that can occur in about 2-3% of patients who take anticoagulant therapy to reduce the risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation and prevent deep vein thrombosis.

The European Innovation Council is to allocate up to €17.5 million in grant and equity finance to Osivax SAS of France to support the development of a candidate universal influenza vaccine that may also have application against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Osivax was spun out of the vaccine and genomics company Imaxio in 2017 with technology for reengineering antigens in order to induce strong immune responses.

Sweden-based Gesynta Pharma AB has raised SEK 190 million (€18.22 million) from a private share placement led by the European life science fund manager Hadean Ventures to advance a small molecule drug for patients with systemic sclerosis which is in the clinic.

UK-based Mission Therapeutics Ltd has raised $15 million from a group of institutions led by Pfizer Ventures, the venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc. The capital will enable to company to advance its portfolio of preclinical small molecule drugs that inhibit deubiquitylating enzymes (DUB) which are involved in DNA damage response. The company’s therapeutic focus is neurodegenerative disorders, mitochondrial diseases and fibrosis.

The gene therapy developer Freeline Therapeutics Ltd has closed a $120 million extended Series C financing round in order to bring its lead programme for haemophilia B into a pivotal trial. Simultaneously on 30 June, it announced a possible initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in the US. The timing and the terms of such an offer have not been decided. Freeline’s majority shareholder is Syncona Ltd, formerly part of the Wellcome Trust.

A new Irish-German medical device company, OneProjects Ltd, has raised €11 million in a Series A financing round to develop imaging technology for cardiac arrythmias, including atrial fibrillation. The financing was led by Netherlands-based Life Sciences Partners BV, investing from its LSP Health Economics Fund 2. It was co-led by the Atlantic Bridge University Fund of Ireland, with participation from Enterprise Ireland.

Germany’s BioNTech SE has reached an agreement to place shares with the Singaporean investment group Temasek Holdings Private Ltd and other investors to raise $250 million for the ongoing development of its messenger RNA (mRNA) portfolio which includes an experimental vaccine programme for COVID-19. The transaction is expected to close in early to mid-August. It consists of an investment of $139 million in BioNTech shares and $112 million in four-year mandatory convertible notes.