Amsterdam/ Bonn — The Amster­­dam-based venture capi­tal fund INKEF Capi­tal has sold its stake in Cardior Phar­maceu­tic­las to Novo Nordisk. The purchase price amounts to €1.025 billion, inclu­ding an upfront payment and addi­tio­nal payments if certain deve­lo­p­ment and commer­cial mile­sto­nes are achie­ved. HTGF, one of the leading Euro­pean seed inves­tors, will also sell its shares as part of the tran­sac­tion. HTGF parti­ci­pa­ted in the first finan­cing round in 2017. At this early stage, HTGF belie­ved in the team’s vision and the poten­tial of RNA technology.

Comple­tion of the acqui­si­tion is subject to the appr­oval of the rele­vant autho­ri­ties and other custo­mary market condi­ti­ons and is expec­ted to take place in the second quar­ter of 2024.

Cardior is a leader and pioneer in the disco­very and deve­lo­p­ment of RNA-targe­­ted thera­pies for the preven­tion, repair and rever­sal of heart dise­ase. The company’s thera­peu­tic approach targets charac­te­ristic non-coding nucleic acids as a plat­form for addres­sing the causes of cardiac dysfunc­tion with the aim of achie­ving a lasting effect in patients.
Novo Nordisk is an inter­na­tio­nal phar­maceu­ti­cal company head­quar­te­red in Denmark that has deve­lo­ped into one of the world’s leading insu­lin manufacturers.

“This acqui­si­tion reflects the trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial of CDR132L as a dise­ase-modi­f­y­ing therapy for heart fail­ure,” said Dr. Clau­dia Ulbrich, CEO and co-foun­­der of Cardior. “Novo Nordisk is the ideal part­ner due to its exten­sive clini­cal and commer­cial exper­tise combi­ned with its resour­ces to acce­le­rate our late-stage deve­lo­p­ment program, inclu­ding through larger pivo­tal trials. We look forward to advan­cing CDR132L to market approval.”

The agree­ment covers Cardior’s lead compound CDR132L, which is curr­ently in Phase 2 clini­cal deve­lo­p­ment for the treat­ment of heart fail­ure. — The acqui­si­tion is an important step in Novo Nordisk’s stra­tegy to build a presence in cardio­vas­cu­lar dise­a­ses. Novo Nordisk’s goal is to build a focu­sed, effec­tive therapy port­fo­lio through inter­nal and exter­nal inno­va­tion to address the signi­fi­cant unmet need in cardio­vas­cu­lar dise­ase, the world’s leading cause of death.

About INKEF Capital

INKEF is a leading venture capi­tal firm based in Amster­dam that supports early-stage compa­nies in Europe, Reitze Douma (photo © INKEF) is Mana­ging Part­ner. — As a long-term inves­tor, INKEF is in a posi­tion to accom­pany compa­nies through seve­ral rounds of finan­cing up to the IPO. INKEF supports tech­no­logy and life science compa­nies in deve­lo­ping their ideas into successful inter­na­tio­nal compa­nies. The best-known invest­ments include GitLab, Remote, Chan­ne­lEn­gine, Silver­flow, iOnc­tura and Castor. www.inkef.com.

Consul­tant INKEF: YPOG

Dr. Martin Scha­per (Lead, M&A/Transactions), Part­ner, Berlin Dr. Johan­nes Janning (M&A/Transactions), Part­ner, Cologne
Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg
Barbara Hasse (M&A/Transactions), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin Dr. Jacob Schrei­ber (Tax), Senior Asso­ciate, Hamburg