The Martinsried-based biotechnology veteran Medigene AG is actually in the process of reinventing itself. Therefore the company’s news flow is now quite different compared to a few months ago. At that time essentially new sales regions on the globe for the product “Veregen” were communicated, but today news regarding the realignment of the company are piling up. This was started with the acquisition of the immunotherapy company Trianta in spring 2014.
With this “fastest” company acquisition in the German biotechnology sector in spring 2014– just a few weeks after the formal foundation of “Trianta” as a spin-off from the Helmholtz Centre Munich – Medigene has chosen a new direction and has opened a new chapter in its business development. “Trianta” has highly innovative, complementary immunotherapy platforms with programs in clinical development to treat of different forms of cancer. These are new generation antigen-tailored dendritic cell (DC) vaccines, T cell receptor (TCR)-based adoptive cell therapies and T cell-targeted antibodies (TABs). The currently 15-member research team around Prof. Dolores Schendel - now also a member of the executive board – draws on decades of experimental experience. In the Helmholtz Centre the latest tools could be developed to combat fatal diseases.
The innovative applications of the “Trianta” founders were also successful in the “m4 Award”. This Bavarian grant program for innovative research projects with high commercialization potential is a part of the Leading-Edge Cluster “m4 –Personalized Medicine” in Munich. With this preseed financing and other funding sources, the first hurdles for company foundation and other practical application of immune therapy platforms could be met. However, Medigene needs significantly more money for further development, in particular for conducting clinical trials.
The company currently carries out a capital increase with the aim of a total of EUR 28.8 million from a combination of new shares and convertible bonds. Medigene's partner and investor Syncore biotechnology co., Ltd. has already stated to take part in the capital increase. Any new stocks and bonds are sold to investors at the end of the subscription period in the context of private placements. Currently, there is a keen international interest on the capital markets in the subject of immunotherapies. The subscription period runs from the 1st to the 14th of July. Until then, the company will set the final issue price.