Deal announcement

goetzpartners advised Formycon

22. Juli 2021

goetzpartners advised Formycon on the public grant financing of Covid-19 drug FYB207 by BayTherapie in the amount of €12.7m

goetzpartners advised Formycon AG (FYB:DE) on the public grant financing BayTherapie from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy in the amount of €12.7 million to support the further development of the COVID-19 drug FYB207.

The funding will support the currently ongoing preclinical development, the production of the investigational product under GMP conditions, and the clinical testing of FYB207 in a phase I/IIa trial, which is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2021.

FYB207 is a long-acting ACE2-immunoglobulin fusion protein. SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses use the ACE2 protein on the surface of human cells as a portal of entry for respiratory infections. Formycon has therefore fused the human ACE2 protein to the constant part of human immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) using computer-aided structural design and created FYB207, a very effective SARS-CoV-2 blocker that has shown in vitro to completely prevent cells from infection.

As part of the Bavarian Therapy Strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Free State of Bavaria had created the opportunity to support development and innovation projects that aim to open up new therapy options for the treatment of the infectious disease induced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus with the funding call “BayTherapie 2020” and the provision of a total of up to €50 million.

goetzpartners acted as exclusive project financing advisor to Formycon AG (FYB:DE). This transaction underpins goetzpartners' industry know-how in the biopharmaceutical sector and the strong execution capabilities in project financing from government authorities.

About Formycon AG
Formycon AG, headquartered in Martinsried (Germany) and listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange (FYB:DE), is a leading independent developer of high-quality biopharmaceutical medicines, especially biosimilars.The company focuses on treatments in ophthalmology, immunology and on other key chronic diseases, covering the entire value chain from technical development to the clinical phase III as well as the preparation of dossiers for marketing approval.

Transaction Team

Ulrich Kinzel
Managing Director
Email

Fabio Riva
Associate

Kieron Banerjee
Associate

Daniel Quast
Analyst