Vakzine Projekt Management (VPM), a Germany-based vaccine development and consultancy spinout from Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), was acquired by immunobiological drug firm Serum Institute of India for an undisclosed sum today.
The all-cash deal provides an exit to the research centre’s tech transfer partner, Ascenion. Prior to the transaction, 90% of VPM’s equity was held by Ascenion, university sponsor association Friends of the HZI, and pharmaceutical consultancy Corvay.
Friends of the HZI continues to hold a 10% stake in Vakzine following the transaction for “strategic reasons.”
Founded in 2002, VPM is developing vaccines and provides consultancy services to the industry. The company has licensed out three of its five drug candidates to date, including a treatment for tuberculosis, VPM1002, licensed to Serum Institute of India in 2012.
VPM1002’s main mechanism is a recombinant form of Bacille Calmette Guerin, a bacterium related to the agent responsible for tuberculosis and already commonly used in conventional treatments.
Serum took the therapy through phase 2 trials and is reportedly now seeking regulatory approval to sell the medicine, with a focus on children and markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The corporate has been collaborating further with Vakzine since the VPM1002 agreement.
Ascenion will pass on a large share of the cash raised to its parent company, LifeScience Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research, a tech transfer services unit formed by HZI and three other life science-focused institutes in the Helmholtz Association.
The foundation will, in turn, allocate the funds to research projects from its endowing institutes, particularly those from HZI.
Ascenion took a 70% majority stake in VPM in 2008, though further details could not be ascertained. VPM started out as a public-private venture between HZI and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
