Just over a year after its creation, Emglev Therapeutics, an Institut Curie spin-off specializing in the development of next-generation antibodies for improved treatment of solid tumors, announces its acquisition by Valour Bio, a subsidiary of the listed company Valerio Therapeutics. Institut Curie salutes this remarkable achievement, which testifies to the quality of its innovations and the relevance of its incubation program, a source of disruptive technologies for the benefit of patients.
“We are proud of the path taken by Emglev Therapeutics, a start-up that has emerged from Institut Curie’s incubation program, which is moving forward at full speed! The acquisition of Emglev, less than two years after its creation, by Valour Bio, a subsidiary of Valerio Therapeutics which is a listed company, reflects the quality of Institut Curie’s innovations and the importance of putting them at the service of the creation of companies that will bring these cutting-edge technologies to all patients,” declares Dr Cécile Campagne, director of Institut Curie’s Technology Transfer Office and deputy director of Carnot Curie Cancer.
Emglev Therapeutics, one of Institut Curie’s latest spin-offs, has just announced its acquisition by Valour Bio[1], a subsidiary of Valerio Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company spun out of Institut Curie, and a leader in the development of innovative DNA decoy-based therapies.
Supported by Institut Curie incubation program and the Paris Biotech Santé incubator, Emglev Therapeutics was born in 2023 from the union of co-founders with complementary expertise: Dr. Christelle Masdeu, former business manager at Institut Curie’s Technology Transfer Office, and Dr. Sandrine Moutel, winner of Institut Curie’s Grand Prix in 2018, research engineer and manager of the CurieCoreTech – Recombinant Antibodies platform at Institut Curie. Dr Franck Perez, CNRS research director, head of the Cell Biology and Cancer unit at Institut Curie (CNRS/Sorbonne University), co-founded the company, bringing his expertise in the development of antibodies and innovative cell therapies.
Emglev Therapeutics was founded on an innovative concept: exploiting proprietary synthetic single-domain antibody[2] libraries to develop the next generation of antibodies and create cutting-edge immunotherapies to treat solid tumors, which account for 90% of newly diagnosed cancer cases. The company has based its approach on the development of antibodies with exceptional bio-physical properties, aimed at overcoming the limitations of conventional immunotherapies. Conventional immunotherapies are ineffective against solid tumors that do not respond to the antibodies currently in use.
Valour Bio’s acquisition of Emglev will breathe new life into this innovative project and accelerate its development, as Dr Christelle Masdeu, CEO and co-founder of Emglev Therapeutics, points out: “We are excited to enter into this joint effort with Valerio Therapeutics. As a shareholder of Valour Bio now holding the Emglev platform, we remain committed to investing our energy, expertise and passion to develop unique treatments addressing unmet medical needs. The synergy created by combining Emglev’s proprietary synthetic single-domain antibody platform with Valerio’s distinctive preclinical and clinical development expertise perfectly aligns with our mission to deliver transformative therapies that make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.”
“As founding members of Emglev, we are delighted to enter into this agreement which represents the culmination of tireless work by a dedicated team of scientists. Our team has created a platform that can generate therapeutics including CAR-Ts, T-cell engagers, binders, and bispecifics sdAbs demonstrating wide and versatile applicability to many diseases. This new chapter allows us to bring our vision of single-domain antibodies one step closer to the clinic and we are looking forward to beginning this journey with Valerio Therapeutics,” adds Dr Sandrine Moutel, co-founder of Emglev.
[1] Valour Bio was created as a 100% subsidiary of Valerio Therapeutics to focus on the discovery of single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) as immuno/radio-conjugated drugs, bispecific sdAbs, sdAb inhibitors, or for CAR-T application as drug candidates for multiple therapeutic areas.
[2] Single-domain antibodies are low molecular weight antibodies with a wide range of therapeutic applications due to their small size, simple production and high affinity.