A London biotech business co-founded by Britain’s Covid vaccine tsar Kate Bingham has been bought for $3bn (£2.36bn), in a deal bosses claimed could revolutionise the treatment of blindness.
US company Merck, which is known as MSD in the UK, said it would pay an initial $1.3bn (£1bn) for EyeBio, with a further $1.7bn expected if certain targets are met.
MSD’s swoop comes three years after EyeBio was founded, during which period it has raised just $130m.
Dame Kate told the Financial Times it was “astonishing” to have achieved such a high valuation in such a short space of time.
Her venture capital firm, SV Health Investors, set up the business together with scientists David Guyer and Tony Adamis in August 2021, with Dame Kate since serving as EyeBio’s chairman.
Her involvement in the company has boosted its profile, with Dame Kate having been among the leading architects of Britain’s vaccine rollout during the pandemic.
Dame Kate was brought in to steer the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce in early 2020 and was given a damehood in recognition of her success in acquiring Covid-19 vaccines. It meant the UK was the first Western country to start vaccinating citizens in late 2020.
She stepped down from the unpaid post of taskforce chairman at the end of 2020.
Since then, she has been back focusing on SV Health investments, where she is a managing partner.
MSD’s move to buy the start-up is expected to help speed up the development of new treatments for patients suffering from eye diseases.
EyeBio has been working on tackling common eye diseases, with its lead drug designed to help with diabetic macular oedema and age-related macular disease. These are the most significant forms of blindness in the Western world.
Dame Kate told the Financial Times that EyeBio’s drugs could “revolutionise the treatment” of patients with these diseases.
EyeBio chief executive and president Mr Guyer said: “As a subsidiary of Merck, EyeBio will be positioned to tap into the resources and infrastructure needed to support the clinical, regulatory and commercial development of these candidates and help bring them to patients worldwide.”
MSD has been racing to bolster its drug pipeline before its blockbuster cancer drug comes off patent.