€37.5 million for Vivet Therapeutics

Vivet develops novel gene therapies for rare, inherited metabolic diseases. With the €37.5 million funding from its series A financing round, they aim to advance their pipeline of gene therapy programs targeting rare, inherited metabolic diseases, such as Wilson’s Disease, progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 2 (PFIC2), progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 3 (PFIC3), and citrullinemia type I. “We have searched extensively for next generation AAV technologies and clinical applications and are excited by Vivet Therapeutics’ clinical and commercial prospects,“ states Florent Gros, Managing Director at Novartis Venture Funds.

Vivet’s lead program, VTX801, is a gene therapy targeting Wilson’ Disease. VTX801 uses a modified AAV vector to transport a truncated functional version of the ATP7B gene into liver cells. The vector is  carrying the defective gene to restore copper metabolism, reduce liver damage and improve liver function. The biotech company expects to initiate first human trials with VTX801 by the end of 2018.