Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has paid €45m ($51m) for a 15% stake in France-based liver disease treatment developer Vivet Therapeutics.
Founded in 2002, Vivet is working on gene therapies to treat a range of rare, inherited metabolic diseases. The company’s lead drug candidate, VTX801, targets Wilson’s disease, a condition that results in potentially life-threatening levels of copper in a patient’s organs.
The company is also developing gene therapies for progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC), a condition that causes liver disease as a result through a build up of bile and other toxic substances in the blood.
The deal gives Pfizer the option to wholly acquire Vivet depending on the outcomes of a phase 2/3 clinical trial for VTX801, and could pay up to $635m based on certain clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. Pfizer vice-president Monika Vnuk will join Vivet’s board of directors.
Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president of Pfizer, said: “Pfizer strives to provide meaningful enhancements to the lives of patients with rare diseases.
“Our partnership with Vivet offers an important expansion of Pfizer’s commitment to collaborate with the scientific community and to accelerate our leading adeno-associated virus-directed gene therapy portfolio.”
Vivet had previously raised $41m in a mid-2017 series A round co-led by Novartis Venture Fund, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Novartis, and venture capital firm Columbus Venture Partners.
The round also featured Roche Venture Fund, the corporate venturing vehicle for pharmaceutical company Roche, in addition to HealthCap, Kurma Partners and Ysios Capital.