Novartis Acquires Vedere Bio of Cambridge

Vedere Bio, a stealth-stage company focused on advancing optogenetic therapies that are delivered to the retina to restore functional vision, has been acquired by Novartis. Shareholders in Vedere Bio received $150 million upfront and will be eligible for up to $130 million in milestone payments, for a total of $280 million. Vedere Bio was formed in the Atlas Venture incubator in June 2019. The company was launched with a $21 million Series A financing and began lab operations at LabCentral in Cambridge where it advanced its lead programs from concept to development candidate within one year.

Immediately prior to the acquisition, certain earlier-stage vision restoration and vision preservation assets leveraging the company’s ocular gene therapy toolbox were spun out into a newly formed entity – Vedere Bio II which will operate as a wholly independent entity from Novartis and Vedere Bio. Vedere Bio II aims to develop a pipeline of novel vision restoration and vision preservation medicines by targeting underserved indications. Backed by the full Vedere Bio investor syndicate of Atlas Venture, Mission BioCapital and Foundation Fighting Blindness (RD Fund), the Vedere Bio II team will launch with Vedere Bio’s founders, team and facilities to advance its pipeline.

“The acquisition of Vedere Bio by Novartis speaks to the strength of the underlying science from our founders and to the incredible job the team has done in advancing these programs over the past year. We are very excited by the potential of this technology and the opportunity to deliver true restoration of sight for patients who have been living in darkness for so long,” said Kevin Bitterman, Ph.D., Partner at Atlas Venture and Chairman of the Vedere Bio Board of Directors. (Source: Vedere Bio Website, 29 October, 2020)