GoLiver goes forth with Satt Ouest Valorisation

GoLiver Therapeutics, a France-based stem cell therapy developer spun out of University of Nantes and research institute Inserm, today secured equity funding of undisclosed size from regional tech transfer office Satt Ouest Valorisation.
The funding marks the first investment from a branch of France-wide tech transfer initiative Réseau Satt in a company from the Pays de la Loire region.
Founded in April 2017, GoLiver Therapeutics is working on a regenerative drug candidate for the treatment of acute and chronic severe liver failure without the need for organ transplants.
GoLiver’s formulation would consist of frozen allogenic liver cells manufactured from pluripotent stem cells which are then injected into the body.
The funding will be pumped into further development of GoLiver’s candidate with a view to ramping up for clinical trials.
GoLiver’s team includes president and scientific director Tuan Huy Nguyen, a researcher at Inserm specialising in gene, cell and regenerative therapies for the liver, and scientific adviser Anne Weber, a former Inserm unit director.
The spinout’s collaborators include Inserm research director Anne Dubart-Kupperschmitt as well as Jean-Charles Duclos-Vallée from research hospital Centre Hépato-Biliaire Paul Brousse and Ludovic Vallier from University of Cambridge.
Tuan Huy Nguyen said: “The involvement of Satt Ouest Valorisation in our capital structure is part of a long-term support program.
“It demonstrates a perfect understanding of the development strategy of a biotech company such as ours, facilitating our progress in this key moment that is the industrialisation phase of the manufacture of an innovative cell therapy product.
“The investment from Satt Ouest Valorisation also represents a strong positive signal for future investors, and confirms the market potential resulting from the intellectual property exploited and developed by GoLiver Therapeutics.”