AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals has announced the spin-off of its 80% stake in Activartis, a Vienna-based biotech company, to a group of private investors.
Activartis has developed dendritic cell-based technology for individualized tumor therapy, while clinical development for glioblastoma, an incurable disease, is at an advanced stage.
AOP Orphan CEO Rudolf Widmann said the spin-off is part of the company's development and commercialization strategy and is a consequence of Elan's offer to acquire AOP Orphan.
"The goal of the Elan scenario would have been to pursue a course of rapid territorial expansion and the addition of several new orphan projects," Widmann added.
"AOP Orphan is in a financial position to pursue its research programs as a stand-alone company, and the divestment of Activartis allows it to go for a separate global commercial business case for the cancer vaccine program."
While continuing its research projects in a timely manner, the company has plans to roll out at least two products within three years in the areas of hematology and cardiology.
Apart from developing various medicines on its platform, the company is also looking for other suitable products, which would be added to its commercialization platform.
Founded in 1996, AOP Orphan aims to offers patients suffering from Rare Diseases with individualized treatment and specializes in the areas of hematology and oncology, cardiology and pulmonology, neurology, psychiatry and metabolic diseases.
