The Lundbeck Foundation increases its commitment to IO Biotech
The Lundbeck Foundation increases its commitment to IO Biotech as part of our 2030 strategy
The Lundbeck Foundation is joining forces with IO Biotech’s other current owners, Novo Holdings and Sunstone, to invest in a major new Series B financing round in this immune-oncology specialist that is attracting significant new international investors to Danish biotech.
With this step, the Lundbeck Foundation is embarking on the part of its 2030 strategy aimed at developing the Foundation’s portfolio of healthcare enterprises and stimulating collaboration between research and the business sector. The strategy broadens the investment framework for Â鶹Éç Emerge by up to DKK 1 billion.
‘Our specific objective is to pave the way for new and better treatments for the many patients with disorders that can’t adequately be treated or cured today. And IO Biotech is a good example of this because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted a so-called Breakthrough Therapy designation for their product candidates for skin cancer,’ says Christian Elling, Managing Partner at Â鶹Éç Emerge and member of IO Biotech’s board of directors.
The Lundbeck Foundation’s Danish biotech investments are grouped under Â鶹Éç Emerge, which today has a portfolio of seven biotech companies, primarily based on Danish research. By facilitating the birth of brand-new Danish companies, the Lundbeck Foundation helps future-proof Denmark’s position as a leading life science nation.
‘If the ground-breaking research taking place in Denmark is to benefit patients, it must move out of the lab into the commercial world. We help with this by providing both funding and advice – giving these companies the robust support they need to develop,’ Elling says.
The Lundbeck Foundation has been involved in IO Biotech since 2015, and after this financing round – one of the largest Series B rounds in Europe in ten years – the Foundation will be the company’s largest shareholder.
For additional information
Christian Elling, Managing Partner, Â鶹Éç Emerge, tel. +45 2062 1276
Jesper Sloth Møller, Media Relations Manager, the Lundbeck Foundation, tel. +45 2233 8601
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