BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

DeveloGen builds out

May 22, 2000 7:00 AM UTC

The merger of DeveloGen AG, a functional genomics company, with HepaVec AG, focused on gene delivery, provides a model for the numerous small European biotechs that have emerged with interesting but incomplete technology platforms. The deal, to be accomplished though a stock swap, will give DeveloGen access to gene delivery technologies required to deliver the genes it discovers, and allow it to pursue what it calls "regenerative gene therapy".

According to Ed Stuart, vice president of corporate affairs at DeveloGen and COO of the new company, the original DeveloGen technology, called DeveloScreen, is based around a functional genomics platform containing fruit fly, zebrafish, chick, and mouse genomes. By knocking out genes in the animal models, DeveloGen tries to identify disease traits and then tries to find the equivalent human gene through public domain data...