Promethera Biosciences SA, a Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium-based biotechnology company developing stem cell therapies for the treatment of inborn liver metabolic diseases (ILMD) and acquired liver diseases, acquired Cytonet GmbH & Co KG, an international cellular therapy company involving primary human hepatocytes.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
Promethera acquired the Cytonet assets in exchange for Promethera shares. The Hopp family, the lead shareholder of Cytonet, will have up to 13% of the share capital after finalization of the transaction.
This transaction will allow Promethera to become one of the world’s leading and most advanced cell therapy and regenerative medicine company targeting liver diseases including Fibrosis, Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (AoCLF) and Hemophilia.
Promethera will evaluate additional options to target Acute Liver Failure (ALF) and Liver Graft Dysfunction in the future and will continue to target orphan indications, including Urea Cyle Disorders (UCD), ILMD and A1AT Deficiency (α1-antitrypsin).
The acquisition of the Cytonet assets will add to Promethera’s Belgian headquarters (HQ) in Wallonia a U.S. facility in Durham, NC with a team of 18 people for organ and tissue processing, product manufacturing, and liver sourcing with the largest existing Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) network in the U.S. In addition, a team of seven people from Germany will be added to the Belgian HQ to support a filing of a new drug submission (NDS) for Heparesc with Health Canada.
Led by Dr. John Tchelingerian, Chairman and CEO, and Prof. Etienne Sokal, Founder and Chief Innovation and Scientific Officer, Promethera is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company that develops innovative therapies for the treatment of liver diseases with no effective therapeutic cure. Two cell therapy products, HepaStem and H2Stem , now under development, are based on the use of allogeneic progenitor cells and stem cells isolated from healthy adult human livers (Heterologous Human Adult Liver-derived Progenitor Cells, HHALPC). These cells could be used to treat a wide variety of liver diseases, from rare inborn metabolic/orphan diseases to acute on chronic liver failure, fibrosis or nonalcoholic steatohepatits in adults. HepaStem has recently completed a phase I/II clinical study in UCD and Crigler-Najjar syndrome (CNS). It has already received orphan drug designation from both the European Medicines Agency and from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of UCD and CNS.
The company is a spin-off of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL).
FinSMEs
18/04/2016