Zambon to buy Sofinnova’s inhalation therapy firm Breath Therapeutics

Sofinnova Partners, a leading venture capital company in Europe that has specialized in life sciences, recently announced that Breath Therapeutics, its portfolio company, is being acquired by Zambon, a pharmaceutical firm based in Italy. Breath Therapeutics specializes in first-in-class and advanced inhalation therapies for critical respiratory diseases. Zambon will reportedly pay nearly 500 million euros for this acquisition. Leopoldo Zambeletti, an independent strategic healthcare advisor had advised the Sofinnova firm on this sale. Breath Therapeutics will see Sofinnova Partners exit following its two and a half years of holding period. Citing reports, the drug device platform of Breath Therapeutics involves a liposomal cyclosporine A for the delivery of inhaled drug with PARI Pharma’s eFlow nebulizer technology. L-CsA-i, the lead product candidate, has initiated two global phase 3 clinical trials to treat Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), the post-lung transplantation which is respiratory orphan disease that can be fatal and has no approved therapies. Breath Therapeutics Board Member and Sofinnova Partners’ Managing Partner, Graziano Seghezzi, said that Breath Therapeutics is a cutting-edge platform with smart entrepreneurs developing products to treat devastating diseases that have no effective treatment, standing as perfect symbol for the company’s investment strategy. The company had clear vision for transatlantic operation that has strong bases in the U.S. and Europe in order to maximize any commercial opportunity. The company believes it has achieved the said vision and has gathered an excellent management team by having complemented European skills with a good regulatory, commercial and clinical expertise in the U.S., Seghezzi added. Dr. Stegemann, Chief Executive Officer of Breath Therapeutics stated that Sofinnova played a major role in helping the company through its early years and expansion. The company is looking forward to moving into new dimension through the Zambon acquisition . For the record, Zambon is a pharmaceutical group that specializes in discovering treatments for critical diseases that lack cures, like Parkinson’s Disease, cystic fibrosis and respiratory illnesses.   Source credit- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190724005967/en/Sofinnova-Partners-Announces-Sale-Breath-Therapeutics-Zambon