The Viennese biotech company Apeiron, founded by the Upper Austrian geneticist Josef Penninger, is changing hands. The US company Ligand Pharmaceuticals is paying 100 million dollars (92.4 million euros) for the company. In addition, extra payments have been agreed, Apeiron announced in a press release. Apeiron shareholders have made the corresponding binding agreement.
According to Apeiron, the additional payments depend on “commercial and regulatory events.” A further $28 million will be distributed to the existing owners if the royalties for a drug once morest high-risk blastomas exceed thresholds by 2030 or 2034. And a further $4 million will flow into invIOs, an Apeiron spin-off to develop immunotherapy methods once morest cancer.
Penninger himself currently holds 13.4 percent of Apeiron; shareholders include the British pharmaceutical giant Glaxo, the Bartenstein Holding of former Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein, the St. Klemens Private Foundation of the Linz entrepreneur family Scherb, the Wiener Städtische Versicherung and the former Linz entrepreneur Rainer Burian.
