Novo Holdings A/S, an international life sciences investor, has announced that its portfolio company, Invetx, will be acquired by Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC, an international veterinary pharmaceuticals business, for up to $520 million in total consideration on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Invetx creates novel, protein-based animal health therapeutics to transform standards of care in veterinary medicine. With its best-in-class, fully integrated discovery development and commercial manufacturing platform, Invetx leverages biotechnologies validated for human health to create species-specific, optimized and half-life extended monoclonal antibody candidates to treat a variety of chronic and serious diseases in animals.
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Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company which manages the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Wholly owned by the foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term perspective. Through its seed, venture, growth, principal investments, planetary health investments, and Asia teams, Novo Holdings invests directly in life science companies at all stages of development. It also manages a broad portfolio of capital investments. As of December 31, 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets of €149 billion (about $162 billion).
Novo Holdings co-led Invetx’s Series B financing round in 2022, which enabled Invetx to advance its monoclonal antibody pipeline and pursue market approvals for therapeutics targeting chronic and serious diseases in dogs and cats. Invetx was incubated by Anterra Capital, a Boston- and Amsterdam-based venture capital firm focused on investments in animal health and agrifood innovation.
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Marcus Remmers, partner, planetary health investments, Novo Holdings, said: “We are proud to have supported the Invetx team over the past two years and look forward to following their continued growth and success as they advance their promising pipeline. Invetx shares our passion for innovation and impact, and this milestone is a testament to Invetx’s market opportunity and the strength of its innovative, sector-defining offering.”
Juergen Horn, PhD, chief executive officer and co-founder, Invetx, said: “We are grateful to Novo Holdings for the invaluable guidance and support their planetary health team has provided Invetx. Through our partnership, we have made significant progress in advancing our pipeline of protein-based therapies to improve outcomes for pets and are well on our way to redefining possibilities in veterinary care. As a global leader in veterinary medicine, Dechra is an ideal partner for our next chapter and fully aligned with our vision to shape the next generation of animal care.”
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Invetx has raised $86 million since 2018, including from investors F-Prime Capital, Novo Holdings, GV, Eight Roads, Anterra Capital, Casdin Capital, and from funds managed by Tekla Capital Management, LLC. It has strategic partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim, a global leader in animal health, AbCellera, a global technology company specializing in antibody discovery, Twist Bioscience, a leading and rapidly growing synthetic biology and genomics company, and WuXi Biologics, a global company with leading biologics technology platforms.
Dechra Pharmaceuticals is a global specialist veterinary pharmaceuticals and related products company with expertise in the development, manufacture, and sales and marketing of high quality products, exclusively for veterinarians, to support the sustainable improvement of animal health and welfare worldwide.
SOURCE: PR Newswire
