Spanish start-up ViveBiotech, which specialises in the development and manufacture of antiviral vectors, has just raised €3.5M to expand its workforce and add new equipment.
Lentiviral vectors are the way to introduce exogenous genetic material into the cell, the production of which requires a strong research component and advanced technology. ViveBiotech is the is the only state-owned company producing antiviral vectors for gene therapy clinical trials.and has just closed a financing round from 3,5M€.
This capital increase has been subscribed by businessmen and family office The Basque venture capital company, which will be joined for the first time by the Basque venture capital company, will be the first of its kind. Easo VenturesVenture Capital Company, which invests in start-up companies to help them develop their projects, and the venture capital fund Invereadyone of the leading private equity managers in Seville capital in Spain.
For its part, Norgestión and GarriguesThe V. The work of the V. The work of the V. The work of the V. The work of the V. The work of the V.
INCORPORATION OF STAFF AND EQUIPMENT
Specifically, the amount obtained by vivebiotech will be used for the construction of three new clean rooms, and will provide 600 square metres to house eight nanobioreactors and two large-capacity bioreactors.
The new equipment will allow the company to significantly increase its production capacity by a factor of 30. It is also planned that by 2021 the company will increase its current workforce by 25%, which is made up of 36 professionals. The result of these investments will be a more competitive position in the ever-growing biomedical market.
Moreover, the San Sebastian-based company is going further, and has already announced that within two years it will be able to produce lentiviral vectors for critical trials in advanced phases involving hundreds of patients, in addition to attending to the commercial-scale production of any gene therapy product using lentiviruses.
Gene therapy with lentiviruses is primarily aimed at rare diseases of genetic origin, and haematological cancer, by means of CAR-Ts therapies that have revolutionised the treatment of these pathologies due to their good results.
In total, ViveBiotech has a total capitalisation of €7.1M, having made another €1M equity investment just a year ago to increase its production by 10.
OTHER RELEVANT ROUNDS IN THE VIVEBIOTECH SECTOR
SOM BIOTECH
Biopharmaceuticals SOM Biotech, specialising in the repositioning of drugs to treat rare diseases of the nervous systemhas recently closed a round of financing worth 7M€.
The company will use the capital injection to complete its ongoing Phase IIa human proof-of-concept study to test the efficacy and safety of an innovative treatment for the choreic movements associated with Huntington's disease: SOM3355, the company's second product to reach the clinical phase.
PEPTOMYC
PepTomyc has received 2,2M€ for advancing oncology and fund its first clinical trials of Omomyc, a drug to fight myocritic lung cancer. The capital comes from the European Horizon 2020 programme, an initiative to promote research and innovation activities with a budget of almost €80 billion.
Omomyc is an inhibitor of Myc, a key gene in the development of most tumours..
The financing from European Union funds adds to the Barcelona-based company's 2017 closed a round of 4,2M€ led by the fund Alta Life Sciences.