Humabs BioMed acquired by Vir Biotechnology

Humabs Biomed is focused on discovering and developing fully human monoclonal antibodies to treat serious infections. Humabs is using its cutting-edge proprietary CellClone technologies to discover effective new treatments against a variety of viral and bacterial infections. Humabs Biomed is collaborating with the IRB Institute of Bellinzona which supported it to license its technologies.

The startup has been acquired by Vir Biotechnology, a San Francisco based company developing cures, treatments, and preventions for challenging infectious diseases. Vir Biotechnology plans to continue the Humabs activities in Bellinzona. Financial details of the transaction have not been made public.

"The acquisition of Humabs BioMed is an important step in Vir's strategy to fight infectious diseases," says Jay Parrish, Senior Vice President and Business Manager at Vir. The news was also happily welcomed by the key players in the biotech pole in Ticino: "Vir's acquisition of Humabs is a good news and demonstrates the driving role of IRB's research", says Gabriele Gendotti, chairman of the IRB Foundation Council. "This acquisition is a great opportunity for further positive developments in Bellinzona's research area."

About Vir Technologies
Vir brings together cutting-edge innovations with leading scientific expertise and management to take on some of the world’s most challenging infectious diseases for which solutions are non-existent or inadequate. Vir seeks to take a new approach, using breakthroughs in immune programming to manipulate pathogen-host interactions. The company will take a multi-program, multi-platform approach to applying these breakthroughs, guided by rigorous science and driven by medical need. The company will be headquartered in the San Francisco, California, area and will seek to apply immune programming at an unprecedented scale.

In January Vir Biotechnology was launched after raising $150M in funding led by ARCH Venture Partners and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Also un-named sovereign wealth funds, public mutual funds and individuals and family offices contributed to the funding.

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