Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Bayer acquired control of Viralgen — a San Sebastian, Spain AAV viral-vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) — through its October 26, 2020 acquisition of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio), announced for USD 2.0 billion upfront plus up to USD 2.0 billion in success-based milestone payments (close expected Q4 2020). AskBio, Viralgen's co-founder, owned 50% of Viralgen (established 2017 as a joint venture with Columbus Venture Partners); in the same operation Bayer committed to acquire the remaining 50% from Columbus Venture Partners within 30 days of the AskBio closing, making Viralgen a wholly owned Bayer CDMO. The transaction gave Bayer AskBio's and Viralgen's proprietary Pro10 AAV manufacturing process, an extensive AAV capsid/promoter library, and a clinical-stage gene-therapy pipeline (Pompe disease, Parkinson's disease, congestive heart failure). The Viralgen-specific purchase price was not separately disclosed. Post-close the asset has scaled materially: Viralgen has received cGMP certification, is licensed for commercial rAAV manufacturing up to 2,000 liters, operates more than 340,000 sq ft across two EMA-GMP facilities, and is pursuing a multi-phase (>EUR 120 million) capacity expansion plus planned US facilities.