EQT Life Sciences Participates in RQ Bio’s Series A Round of USD 115 Million

Munich — EQT Life Scien­ces is plea­sed to announce its parti­ci­pa­tion in a Series A finan­cing round tota­ling 115 million U.S. dollars (86 million GBP) in RQ Bio, a UK-based biotech­no­logy company deve­lo­ping anti­body thera­pies to prevent influ­enza in high-risk groups and immu­n­o­com­pro­mi­sed indi­vi­du­als. The invest­ment was made through one of the funds mana­ged by EQT. 

The funding round was led by Frazier Life Scien­ces, with parti­ci­pa­tion from new inves­tors EQT Life Scien­ces, Forbion, Mono­graph, and Welling­ton Manage­ment, as well as exis­ting inves­tors Life­Arc, Oxford Science Enter­pri­ses, and Oxford Univer­sity Inno­va­tion. The Series A finan­cing will support the clini­cal deve­lo­p­ment of RQ Bio’s lead program, RQB01, and help advance the company’s broad pipe­line of thera­pies for other infec­tious diseases. 

RQ Bio was foun­ded in 2021

RQ Bio was foun­ded in 2021 by four leading scien­tists in the field of infec­tious dise­a­ses and is deve­lo­ping new anti­body thera­pies desi­gned to protect people from seaso­nal flu for an entire season with just a single treat­ment. The company’s flag­ship program is advan­cing toward clini­cal deve­lo­p­ment and is desi­gned to provide compre­hen­sive protec­tion for high-risk pati­ents, inclu­ding those who remain at risk despite exis­ting vacci­na­tion strategies. 

EQT Life Scien­ces will support RQ Bio in advan­cing its lead program, RQB01, into the clini­cal phase and further expan­ding its broa­der pipe­line. Drawing on its expe­ri­ence in support­ing inno­va­tive biotech­no­logy compa­nies through clini­cal deve­lo­p­ment, EQT Life Scien­ces will work along­side manage­ment and the inves­tor consor­tium to scale the company, streng­then its deve­lo­p­ment capa­bi­li­ties, and drive its long-term growth. 

Felice Verduyn-van Weegen, a part­ner at EQT Life Scien­ces, said: “Despite the avai­la­bi­lity of exis­ting treat­ments, influ­enza conti­nues to pose a signi­fi­cant burden on at-risk groups. RQ Bio’s approach—to provide long-lasting, season-long protec­tion with a single dose—addresses a clear unmet need among pati­ents who remain at the highest risk.”

Mike Westby, CEO of RQ Bio, said: “Influ­enza conti­nues to pose a serious and persis­tent threat to pati­ents whose immune systems cannot rely solely on vacci­na­tion. Our vision is to deve­lop a preven­tive therapy that provi­des relia­ble protec­tion for an entire flu season with a single dose. This funding will support the clini­cal deve­lo­p­ment of RQB01 and advance our proprie­tary approach to anti­body disco­very to build a pipe­line of thera­peu­tic candi­da­tes for the preven­tion of respi­ra­tory viral diseases.”

As part of the finan­cing, RQ Bio appoin­ted Chris­tian S. Schade as Execu­tive Chair­man. Most recently, he served as Presi­dent and CEO of Halda Thera­peu­tics, which was acqui­red by John­son & John­son in Decem­ber 2025 for $3.0 billion. He brings exten­sive leader­ship, board, and tran­sac­tion expe­ri­ence from across the biotech­no­logy sector. As Execu­tive Chair­man, he will work closely with the manage­ment team and the board of direc­tors to steer the company’s stra­tegy and support its contin­ued growth. 

About EQT Life Sciences

EQT Life Scien­ces was formed in 2022 through the inte­gra­tion of LSP, a leading Euro­pean venture capi­tal firm in the life scien­ces and health­care sectors, into the EQT plat­form. As LSP, the firm has raised more than 3.0 billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) since it began inves­t­ing over 30 years ago and has supported the growth of more than 150 compa­nies. With a dedi­ca­ted team of highly expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment profes­sio­nals with back­grounds in medi­cine, science, busi­ness, and finance, EQT Life Scien­ces supports the brigh­test inno­va­tors whose ideas can truly make a diffe­rence for pati­ents. — https://eqtgroup.com/private-capital/eqt-life-sciences

About RQ Bio

RQ Bio is a UK-based biotech company which is deve­lo­ping a long-acting mono­clonal anti­body against seaso­nal influ­enza with the aim of provi­ding immu­n­o­com­pro­mi­sed and high-risk pati­ents with imme­diate, effec­tive, and long-lasting protec­tion against severe viral dise­a­ses. The company is advan­cing the deve­lo­p­ment of its lead product, RQB01—a long-acting, highly effec­tive, and broadly active dual mono­clonal antibody—through clini­cal trials aimed at obtai­ning IND approval. 

RQ Bio was foun­ded in 2021 and has a highly expe­ri­en­ced team with a proven track record in deve­lo­ping long-acting anti­bo­dies against viral target mole­cu­les. RQ Bio is backed by a strong consor­tium of specia­li­zed investors—Frazier Life Scien­ces, EQT Life Scien­ces, Mono­graph, Welling­ton, Forbion, Life­Arc, Oxford Science Enter­pri­ses, and Oxford Univer­sity Innovation.