ViaCyte

ViaCyte is a company dedicated to regenerative medicine and the development of drugs for type 1 diabetes.

History

2022: Vertex bought ViaCyte for $320 million

On July 11, 2022, Vertex announced the purchase of ViaCyte for $320 million. The deal will close at the end of 2022, provided that its participants receive approval from antitrust authorities.

ViaCyte is developing stem cell therapies for diabetes. The purchase comes nearly three years after Vertex agreed to spend nearly $1 billion to acquire Semma Therapeutics, another biotech company trying to effectively treat type 1 diabetes with stem cell-based drugs. One of Semma's programs, called VX-880, is being tested in humans for July 2022.

Vertex bought a company developing diabetes drugs

Vertex said the deal with ViaCyte provides additional assets, capabilities and technology to those the company acquired as a result of the Semma deal, including manufacturing facilities that could help accelerate the implementation of existing type 1 diabetes treatment programs. ViaCyte has also partnered with instrument manufacturers and CRISPR Therapeutics, a gene-editing biotechnology that has been working with Vertex for years to develop a possible cure for two blood diseases. Moreover, ViaCyte has launched several programs in human testing.

Historically, Vertex has been best known for its work in the field of cystic fibrosis, bringing to market four so-called small molecular drugs that generated a combined revenue of more than $2 billion in the second quarter of 2022 alone. Since Vertex offers treatment options for about 90% of cystic fibrosis patients as of July 11, 2022, according to Biopharmadive, investors are wondering in which areas of research the company will develop to find new growth opportunities. In a note to clients, analysts at investment firm Stifel wrote that the deal with ViaCyte reflected Vertex's commitment to cell therapy.

According to Stifel analyst Paul Matteis, he and his team consider the deal with ViaCyte unexpected, given that Vertex called the assets from Semma's acquisition best in class. Stifel also considers the deal very risky due to some of the challenges inherent in creating such therapies. One of the strategies used by ViaCyte is to suppress the immune system of patients so that the cells created can take root correctly. Stifel believes that developers cannot rely on chronic immunosuppression if they want to create a commercially attractive cell therapy to treat type 1 diabetes.

Known as VCTX210, this therapy is designed not to be recognized by the immune system. By July 2022, it is undergoing a safety and tolerability assessment as part of an early-stage clinical trial that began in February 2022 and is due to submit data later this year or early 2023.^[1]

Notes