BioVersys closes a CHF 24.2 million financing round to develop AMR medical pipeline
08.06.2022
BioVersys AG, a privately-held clinical-stage, multi-asset Swiss pharmaceutical company focusing on research and development of therapies for life-threatening multidrug-resistant bacterial infections and targeted microbiome modulation, announced today that it has raised CHF 24.2 million in a first closing of its Series C round. This first closing was significantly oversubscribed by both existing and new investors from diverse geographies. BioVersys intends to complete the Series C investment round by the end of 2022. We interviewed CEO and founder Marc Gitzinger about the challenges of Biotech in Switzerland and the impact of the COViD-19 on fundraising.
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The confidence of their investors and the renewed interest of established pharma and biotech companies in AMR validate the importance of the sector and the value of Bioversys' portfolio of de-risked assets. In 2019, 1.27 million deaths were directly attributable to AMR, more than breast cancer, HIV, or malaria. These numbers have yet again demonstrated the consequences of the lack of novel AMR solutions and the urgent need to address one of the greatest threats to the healthcare systems of the modern era.
The company will use the investment to initiate first Phase II clinical trials of BV100 and BVL-GSK098 and the preclinical development of BV200.
BV100 addresses serious infections caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in hospitalized patients, where mortality currently reaches 50% while BVL-GSK098 targets the 10 million tuberculosis (TB) sufferers identified each year, of which 1.5 million die every year.
Bioversys won Venture Kick and participated in Venture Leaders Technology in 2008, in Venture Leaders China in 2016, and was selected among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2011 to 2013. We interviewed CEO and founder Marc Gitzinger to learn more.
Marc, how will the CHF 24.2 million investment help achieve your vision, what are your next milestones now?
This first part of our Series C investment round of CHF 24.2, was led by existing shareholders and brought in several new shareholders supporting our mission to develop novel antibacterial therapies against life-threatening infections. The funds will be deployed to conduct two of our pipeline programs' clinical Phase II proof of concept studies and to advance a third program through preclinical toxicology. This is an exciting time for BioVersys as these significant milestones will bring our medicines one step closer to patients in need and prepare the company for the next growth phase.
According to you, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities for Biotech startups in Switzerland nowadays?
Biotech is a thriving innovation sector in Switzerland. While we currently experience a bit of a dip in global biotech markets, which mostly comes as a correction from the incredible heights that were experienced during the Covid pandemic, I think the fundamentals of the industry and the Swiss innovation capacity have not changed. The Biotech Industry does deliver novel therapies and technologies to patients and that ultimately leads to a healthier and better life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was mainly the Biotech Industry delivering the innovation needed to vaccinate the global population fast and pave the way to manage the pandemic. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is becoming as much a monumental anti-infective challenge as Covid-19 and BioVersys is well-positioned to deliver impactful medicines addressing these resistant bacterial infections. Switzerland is top in innovation, but I think we can still work on the investment side in Switzerland and Europe in general. We still see that the US investors are more risk-taking and ultimately also benefit more from the successes in the Biotech space. I believe we need more investor momentum, especially from the large institutional investors to not shy away from the biotech sector. The sector generates an incredible impact on global health and ultimately also a significant opportunity for financial returns, so I hope we can further expand the biotech industry in Switzerland.
Can you tell us a bit about the impact of the Covid-crisis on the Biotech scene?
What we saw during the Covid pandemic was a renewed realization of how devastating and dangerous infectious diseases can be to our way of life and our health. For many years, the investment into the infectious disease space was shrinking due to a lack of “sense of urgency” for an immediate need for new vaccine technologies or drugs for pandemic preparedness. The same was true for investments in AMR. With Covid-19, everyone has realized the cost of not having the right drugs/vaccines in hand when it comes to an outbreak of a transmissible disease. Also, politicians have realized the importance of valuing medicines against infectious diseases appropriately and this currently leads to a global revision of how to reimburse antibiotics. For companies like BioVersys this is really important because it allows us in the future to use our innovations with care and in a sustainable manner. We will not be paid by volume sold, but rather by making the drug available and the societal value created by this. Changing this reimbursement system is a way to ensure that humanity will have access to working antibiotics around the world and this is crucial to safeguard modern healthcare, as access to working antibiotics is crucial for most medical interventions from simple surgery all the way to advanced immuno-oncology. Lastly, I also think that the general public hopefully revised its view on the biotech/Pharma industry a little. The vaccines that were developed in record time allow us to live a normal summer of 2022 again: Seeing friends, traveling, and going to events. Creating innovation with such an important impact on our daily life is what our industry can do and it certainly is one reason for me, to be thankful for the biotech industry.
The company will use the investment to initiate first Phase II clinical trials of BV100 and BVL-GSK098 and the preclinical development of BV200.BV100 addresses serious infections caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in hospitalized patients, where mortality currently reaches 50% while BVL-GSK098 targets the 10 million tuberculosis (TB) sufferers identified each year, of which 1.5 million die every year.
Bioversys won Venture Kick and participated in Venture Leaders Technology in 2008, in Venture Leaders China in 2016, and was selected among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2011 to 2013. We interviewed CEO and founder Marc Gitzinger to learn more.
Marc, how will the CHF 24.2 million investment help achieve your vision, what are your next milestones now?This first part of our Series C investment round of CHF 24.2, was led by existing shareholders and brought in several new shareholders supporting our mission to develop novel antibacterial therapies against life-threatening infections. The funds will be deployed to conduct two of our pipeline programs' clinical Phase II proof of concept studies and to advance a third program through preclinical toxicology. This is an exciting time for BioVersys as these significant milestones will bring our medicines one step closer to patients in need and prepare the company for the next growth phase.
According to you, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities for Biotech startups in Switzerland nowadays?
Biotech is a thriving innovation sector in Switzerland. While we currently experience a bit of a dip in global biotech markets, which mostly comes as a correction from the incredible heights that were experienced during the Covid pandemic, I think the fundamentals of the industry and the Swiss innovation capacity have not changed. The Biotech Industry does deliver novel therapies and technologies to patients and that ultimately leads to a healthier and better life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was mainly the Biotech Industry delivering the innovation needed to vaccinate the global population fast and pave the way to manage the pandemic. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is becoming as much a monumental anti-infective challenge as Covid-19 and BioVersys is well-positioned to deliver impactful medicines addressing these resistant bacterial infections. Switzerland is top in innovation, but I think we can still work on the investment side in Switzerland and Europe in general. We still see that the US investors are more risk-taking and ultimately also benefit more from the successes in the Biotech space. I believe we need more investor momentum, especially from the large institutional investors to not shy away from the biotech sector. The sector generates an incredible impact on global health and ultimately also a significant opportunity for financial returns, so I hope we can further expand the biotech industry in Switzerland.
Can you tell us a bit about the impact of the Covid-crisis on the Biotech scene?
What we saw during the Covid pandemic was a renewed realization of how devastating and dangerous infectious diseases can be to our way of life and our health. For many years, the investment into the infectious disease space was shrinking due to a lack of “sense of urgency” for an immediate need for new vaccine technologies or drugs for pandemic preparedness. The same was true for investments in AMR. With Covid-19, everyone has realized the cost of not having the right drugs/vaccines in hand when it comes to an outbreak of a transmissible disease. Also, politicians have realized the importance of valuing medicines against infectious diseases appropriately and this currently leads to a global revision of how to reimburse antibiotics. For companies like BioVersys this is really important because it allows us in the future to use our innovations with care and in a sustainable manner. We will not be paid by volume sold, but rather by making the drug available and the societal value created by this. Changing this reimbursement system is a way to ensure that humanity will have access to working antibiotics around the world and this is crucial to safeguard modern healthcare, as access to working antibiotics is crucial for most medical interventions from simple surgery all the way to advanced immuno-oncology. Lastly, I also think that the general public hopefully revised its view on the biotech/Pharma industry a little. The vaccines that were developed in record time allow us to live a normal summer of 2022 again: Seeing friends, traveling, and going to events. Creating innovation with such an important impact on our daily life is what our industry can do and it certainly is one reason for me, to be thankful for the biotech industry.