Vertex to Acquire ViaCyte for $320 Million
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has entered into a $320 million agreement to acquire ViaCyte, a privately held biotechnology company focused on delivering novel stem cell-derived cell replacement therapies as a functional cure for type 1 diabetes.
Vertex will make use of ViaCyte’s know-how to help develop VX-880, an investigational allogeneic stem cell-derived, insulin-producing islet cell therapy for type 1 diabetes. The drug is being examined at the phase 1/2 stage.
Vertex will also gain other stem cell lines, intellectual property around stem cell differentiation, and manufacturing facilities for cell-based therapies that could accelerate Vertex’s ongoing type 1 diabetes programs, as well as novel hypoimmune stem cell assets.
The purchase is set to be completed later this year.
Vertex
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maintains headquarters in South Boston, Massachusetts, and three research facilities, in San Diego, California, and Milton Park, near Oxford, England.
ViaCyte
Headquartered in San Diego, ViaCyte is a regenerative medicine company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel cell replacement therapies to treat human diseases. Leader in the field advancing stem cell-derived islet cell replacement therapies to treat insulin-requiring diabetes, including type 1 and type 2. With more than two decades of research and expertise in the field, two product candidates in clinical trials, and a third in preclinical development, ViaCyte believes it has the key elements needed to produce transformative therapies for all people who require insulin to treat diabetes.
July 13, 2022
