Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has made an €80m ($91.5m) equity investment in Germany-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Biontech in connection with the extension of a research and development collaboration agreement.
Spun out of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2008, Biontech is developing immunotherapies to treat cancer and infectious diseases. It formed a research partnership with Sanofi in 2015 and the companies plan to team up on the development and commercialisation of a cancer immunotherapy candidate.
Ugur Sahin, Biontech’s co-founder and CEO, said: “The extension of the research collaboration and equity investment demonstrates a deepening of our partnership with Sanofi as we seek to rapidly drive novel, disruptive programs through clinical testing to commercialisation together.
“We are pleased that with this program we have moved from concept to clinical stage in well under three years.”
Another pharmaceutical firm, Pfizer, had provided $120m in equity funding, upfront payment and near-term research financing for Biontech in August 2018 as part of an agreement to collaborate on the research and development of flu vaccines.
Asset manager Redmile Group led the company’s $270m series A round in January 2018, joining financial services and investment conglomerate Fidelity Management and Research, asset management firm Janus Henderson Investors, investment firm Invus and several family offices.
The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from MIG Fonds and Strüngmann Family Office in 2008. It also counts medical device maker Salvia as a shareholder, though details of the latter’s investment have not been disclosed.
Biontech’s other partners include life sciences technology producers Genentech, Genmab, Bayer Animal Health and Eli Lilly, which supplied $30m in equity funding for Biontech subsidiary Cell & Gene Therapies in 2015.