State of the Landscape
With this article we want to update on investment deals and activity in Therapeutics over Q4 2023. We focus on all-stage venture financing deals and types of M&A activity across European companies, and elaborate on one early-stage and one later-stage deal made this quarter.
An overview
The Therapeutic sector has seen 130 deals over the course of the last quarter in 2023, amounting to $13,08B. Of those, 68 were venture financing deals ranging from series A through C. The other 62 were M&A type deals, of which 2 mergers, 45 acquisitions, and 15 asset transactions, where companies have specifically acquired drugs or drug candidates from target vendors (Figure 1A,B).
Investment activity has been similar in terms of volume over the course of October and November (48 vs 48). Yet, we see a significant relative difference in terms of total deal value between the two periods ($11,31B vs $1,18B). This can be attributed to a handful of major M&A deals happening in October, such as the major asset transaction of Viatris, offering substantially all of its over-the-counter (OTC) business, it’s women’s healthcare business, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingedrient (API) business in India, and commercialization rights in certain non-core markets to IQuest Enterprises for $6,94B alone.
Similarly, October also marked the $3,1B acquisition of all outstanding common shares of Olink Holding AB, a leading provider of next-generation proteomics solutions, by Orion Acquisition AB (a wholly owned,ThermoFischer Scientific subsidiary).
This quarter, almost half of the venture financing deals were in oncology (11), Central Nervous System (CNS,9), gastrointestinal diseases (7), and infectious diseases (6) respectively. Furthermore, there has been much focus on production methods required for drug development, such as more efficient cell production and high-value molecule manufacturing.
Highlights
We will cover two deals to shed more light on interesting financing deals in the sector.
Bioxodes raises €12M in Series A Financing – 21/11/2023
Bioxodes SA, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic and inflammatory diseases, announced €12 million ($13M) in a Series A funding from historic investors. This financial backing includes €8.6 million ($9.3M) in capital and €3.4 million ($3.7M) in non-dilutive funding from the Wallonia region. It comes on top of the €27 million ($29.2M) in capital and subsidies previously raised by Bioxodes, bringing to €39 million ($42.2M) the total funding secured by the company since its creation.
This new funding will allow Bioxodes to continue the clinical development of its main drug candidate, Ir-CPI, for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), right through to the end of phase IIa. The company also intends to use the proceeds to pursue new preclinical R&D work into the effect of Ir-CPI on neutrophils, which are key components in the neuro-inflammatory process. “We’re excited to embark on the next strategic phase for Bioxodes, which will enable us to generate clinical data around the safety and efficacy of our drug candidate for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage,” said Marc Dechamps, CEO at Bioxodes. Our aim now is to keep our clinical development program moving forward by launching plans for our phase IIb efficacy trial, which is scheduled for 2025. With this important milestone on the horizon, we are already preparing for a Series B funding round in Q2, 2024.
“I am proud of this latest funding round for Bioxodes,” said Pierre Detrixhe, chairman of the board at Bioxodes. “This latest funding round represents an important milestone in the clinical development of Ir-CPI. Currently there is no treatment available for patients following an intracerebral hemorrhage,” said Hans Warrinnier, chief medical officer at Bioxodes. “Our drug candidate answers a key unmet medical need identified by clinical experts in this indication. By generating clinical data around intracerebral hemorrhage, we are taking an important step forward in treating this condition.”
Strokes are currently the leading cause of disability and the second-leading cause of death worldwide. Data from 2022 indicates that the risk of someone suffering a stroke has increased by 50% in the last 20 years. It is now estimated that one in four people will experience a stroke at some point in their lifetime, with 3.4 million people an intracerebral hemorrhage, equating to 28% of all stroke cases worldwide.
Antabio announces it has raised €25m in a series B financing round– 12/12/2023
Antabio SAS, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for severe drug-resistant bacterial infections, announced today that it has raised €25m in a series B financing round with subscriptions from the AMR Action Fund, the EIC Fund and from the company’s historical investors including BNP Paribas Développement, Relyens Innovation Santé / Turenne Capital, IRDI Capital Investment and Christophe Ricard, the former President of OM Pharma. This financing expands on the prestigious historical support received by the company through past multi-million-dollar awards from the Wellcome Trust, CARB-X, and ARPEGE.<P/>
This Series B will enable the company to complete the phase 2 clinical studies of MEM-ANT3310, a next generation antibacterial combination designed to provide a unique coverage of priority Gram-negative pathogens including OXA-carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), KPC- and OXA- carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). MEM-ANT3310 combines the well-known carbapenem meropenem (MEM) with ANT3310, a breakthrough serine-beta-lactamase (SBL) inhibitor developed by Antabio. ANT3310’s innovative structure completely inhibits Class A, Class C and Class D beta-lactamase enzymes and, in combination with MEM, represents a truly differentiated alternative to treat life-threatening infections due to drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens, including Hospital-Acquired and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (HAP/VAP).
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health crisis that was associated with nearly 5 million deaths in 2019 and is recognized as a top priority by the World Health Organization. It is estimated that 5-10% of hospital patients in US and Europe develop a hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infection. According to recent estimates, AMR now causes more deaths than HIV/AIDS or malaria, and it is predicted to kill more than 10 million people every year by 2050 (more than cancer today).
“We are thrilled to welcome the AMR Action Fund and the EIC Fund to Antabio, and grateful to our historical investors for their continued support” said Marc Lemonnier, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Antabio. “Raising such significant funding in historically challenging times for the sector is an outstanding achievement and a testament to our vision, team, and pipeline of innovative products that could offer a lifeline to patients around the world”.
“Antabio is targeting drug-resistant pathogens that have devastating effects on patients and their families. We believe the therapies in Antabio’s pipeline will deliver significant benefits to patients and be an important tool for physicians, who are struggling to treat infections for which there are few effective treatments available,” AMR Action Fund CEO Henry Skinner said. “Antimicrobial resistance harms patients everywhere, and it is essential that academia, entrepreneurs, industry, governments, and intergovernmental organizations work together at the global level to incentivize solutions to the AMR crisis.”
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FFUND’s Venture Finance team helps building and strengthening companies’ propositions to raise capital in an investment round. We do this by offering a number of services: analyzing the companies’ performance through assessment of key indicators, designing the data-room, performing market analyses, company valuations and composing the business plan and teaser deck for investors. On top of that, the team leverages its network of investors to receive feedback on your proposition while serving as a warm introduction.
