Pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim acquired one of its portfolio companies, Austria-based immuno-oncology therapy developer ViraTherapeutics, yesterday for €210m ($245m).
ViraTherapeutics is developing oncological drugs based on oncolytic viruses that have been engineered to fight cancer, destroying cancerous cells while leaving surrounding tissue unharmed. It was spun out of Medical University of Innsbruck in 2013.
The company’s lead asset is a modified form of vesicular stomatitis virus called VSV-GP that enhances the patient’s immune response and impacts tumours directly. VSV-GP is in advanced preclinical development and is expected to undergo its first clinical trials on cancer patients “in the near future”.
Boehringer Ingelheim, which secured the acquisition option in August 2016, and ViraTherapeutics agreed in March this year to collaborate on a second VSV-based program incorporating immunotherapeutic material from the corporate’s portfolio.
ViraTherapeutics will remain in Innsbruck as a distinct unit overseen by Boehringer Ingelheim’s Discovery Research division, and will continue to work closely with Medical University of Innsbruck and the regional scientific community.
The company raised $4m in a 2015 series A round co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategic investment vehicle, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and EMBL Ventures, research hub European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s venture capital arm.
Regional investment firm Startup.Tirol, state-owned development bank Austria Wirtschaftsservice, Empl Foundation and Austrian Research Promotion Agency are among ViraTherapeutics’ earlier backers but have not disclosed how much they invested.
Jan Adams, managing partner at EMBL Ventures, said: “As one of the lead investors in ViraTherapeutics, we are proud to have been involved in building the company and nurturing its growth and development over the last three years.
“This acquisition is a perfect illustration of our theme-based investment strategy to leverage private capital to validate finance and grow ground-breaking scientific innovation from European biotech companies that we proactively source from the life science ecosystem.”
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.