On 11 August, KaNDy Therapeutics announced it had been acquired by Bayer Pharmaceuticals for an upfront consideration of USD 425 million, potential milestone payments of up to USD 450 million until launch followed by potential additional triple digit million sales milestone payments*.
KaNDy was formed in 2017 as a spin-out from NeRRe Therapeutics by Dr Mary Kerr, CEO and Co-Founder Dr Mike Trower, CSO.
With an impressive background within the life-sciences industry including senior leadership roles at ViiV Healthcare and GSK and, with a real passion for women’s healthcare, Mary was well positioned to lead KaNDy.
Instrumental to the clinical development of the Company’s lead compound, Andrew Kay, Chairman of the Board, and Co-founder Dr Mike Trower, CSO, have both offered trusted and invaluable advice to KaNDy Therapeutics, alongside significant input from Dr Steve Pawsey, CMO, Rebecca Hemsley, Senior VP Finance & Operations, Jo Craig, Senior Vice President CMC and Elizabeth Ballantyne, Vice President of Clinical Operations.
Mary hopes this deal will further highlight the women’s healthcare sector and the unmet need: “There is a real need for innovation and investment in the under-served field of women’s health. We hope that this acquisition will encourage investors to sit-up and take more of an interest in this space.” – Mary Kerr, CEO, KaNDy Therapeutics
KaNDy is backed by a leading consortium of investors including Advent Life Sciences, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Forbion Capital Partners, Longitude Capital and OrbiMed. Advent co-founded NeRRe with Mike Trower in 2012 and have been committed investors since. Kaasim Mahmood from Advent introduced Ena Prosser (Fountain) who led the NeRRe Series B. Geert-Jan Mulder (Forbion) and Dr Iain Dukes (Orbimed) also joined the syndicate at this time. Josh Richardson (Longitude) led the most recent Series C financing round in 2018 which raised £25m to fund the KaNDy Phase 2b clinical development programme.
Mary and the team at KaNDy would like to thank their investors and advisors who have played a key role in building the Company that exists today.
Consilium has advised KaNDy on its strategic communications since May 2018.
*Closing is subject to customary conditions, anti-trust approval and is expected by September 2020.
