Ultimovacs acquires Immuneed
The Norwegian biotech company Ultimovacs acquires the immunotherapy technology business of the Swedish company Immuneed AB.
The complementary technologies of the two companies provide a unique platform for development of novel vaccine solutions for treatment and possibly prevention of cancer.
The acquired business has been named Ultimovacs AB and is now a fully-owned Swedish subsidiary of Oslo Cancer Cluster member Ultimovacs AS. The business is located in Uppsala and has two employees.
— In Ultimovacs, we have been looking for an adjuvant technology that can further improve cancer vaccines. Simultaneously, Immuneed has been searching for a peptide based vaccine platform for further testing of their technology. This is a perfect match, says Øyvind Kongstun Arnesen, CEO of Ultimovacs, in a press release.
Bought for NOK 50.4 million
The purchase price of the technology business of Immuneed AB was NOK 50.4 million, corresponding to SEK 54.5 million, which was paid partly in cash and partly in shares in Ultimovacs AS. Following the transaction, Immuneed AB holds 5.4% of the shares in Ultimovacs AS.
Ultimovacs is a Norwegian pharmaceutical company developing novel immunotherapies against cancer. The lead product candidate is a peptide-based vaccine inducing a specific T cell response against the universal cancer antigen telomerase. This vaccine is called UV1 and is currently in clinical testing in the US.
Read more about the technology of Ultimovacs.
Immuneed has developed technology named the TET-platform™ that can complement the cancer vaccine under development by Ultimovacs. The TET-platform™ addresses the general challenge of so called “adjuvants” that enhance the desired response of the immune system to a vaccine. It makes it possible to incorporate adjuvant and the vaccine itself into one molecule.
When using the technology from Immuneed, the antibodies formed by a previous vaccine can function as adjuvant for a new vaccine. This principle is general and can be applied as an adjuvant for many different vaccines. The principle and the technology have been successfully validated in different pre-clinical models.
Read more about the merger in the press release issued by Ultimovacs.
