On February 11, 2020 SIRION Biotech GmbH ("SIRION"), a world leader in viral vector-based gene delivery technologies for gene and cell therapy, reported preliminary financial results for 2019 (Press release, Sirion Therapeutics, FEB 11, 2020, View Source [SID1234554176]). SIRION’s annual service and licensing revenues in 2019 exceeded €10M (US$11.2M). With a growing staff of 35 employees, the company reports a record profit and plans to invest a portion of these proceeds into an additional Munich site with expanded lab and process development capacities. In addition, SIRION’s offices in Paris and Boston will continue to expand.
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In addition, the company’s intellectual property is included in more than 10 clinical programs by leading drug developers, one of which was granted market approval in 2019. SIRION’s core fee-for-service business, providing vector materials for discovery and pre-clinical applications, experienced historic growth of more than 50% over the previous year. The company expanded into a new avenue of growth by assigning its share in joint intellectual property rights to both a client in USA and the Danish start-up, InProTher Aps, in return for shares and milestone payments as well as royalties on product net sales.
SIRION Biotech’s business model comes from service revenue and licensing fees. The company provides high-grade viral vector materials for preclinical use, offering up to 1015 GMP-ready AAV vector genomes and 1010 infectious units of Lentivirus, currently paving all the way to toxicology studies. In addition, the company is forecasting significant increased demand for its clinical and commercial grade vectors.
As SIRION continues its growth trajectory, it will focus on attracting funding to expand preclinical development with collaborators from its large client network. With more than 2,000 single projects for over 200 recurring clients worldwide, SIRION is committed to building significant intelligence and insights into latest gene therapy drug developments.
"After only 12 years in business, SIRION has been instrumental in bringing new gene therapy treatments to patients. Assigning intellectual properties to collaborators validates our comprehensive viral vector technology platforms and the highly skilled and creative lab staff that stands behind them. We continue our dedication and commitment to developing gene therapy on a global scale with the opening of our second Munich site this year that will expand our capacity for research and process development," said Dieter Lingelbach, Chief Operating Officer of SIRION.
Mr. Lingelbach continued, "In 2020, we look forward to continued expansion of our US presence through our wholly-owned subsidiary, SIRION Biotech International Inc., as well as continued growth in Paris."
Gene and cell therapies are among the hottest topics in modern drug development. Viral vector technologies are the most promising gene editing tools available today, with significant potential both as therapeutics for a growing number of indications, for tumor vaccines and for further technical improvements. Key challenges include quality, yields, and improved transduction in order to make novel gene therapies reliable and affordable. Costs for gene therapies per patient remain high, and can be prohibitive for larger patient populations, even in well-developed markets.