Medtech start-up Sirion Biotech sold to PerkinElmer

The US technology company is buying the shares from HTGF and KfW, among others. Sirion develops vectors for gene and cell therapy.

Exit at Sirion Biotech: The Martinsried-based company is being sold to the US technology group PerkinElmer, which is known for its chemical and medical technology. The purchase price was not disclosed. The existing investors are selling their shares for the deal. These include High-Tech Gründerfonds, KfW, Creathor Ventures from Bad Homburg and Bayern Kapital, which together invested in Sirion in a seed financing round in 2007.

Sirion Biotech was founded in 2005 and develops novel therapeutic viral vectors for gene and cell therapy as well as vaccine development. The company employs 50 people in Germany, France and the USA. "As part of PerkinElmer, we will benefit from easier access to genome analysis, gene editing and base editing technologies as well as an excellent global infrastructure and presence," says Christian Thirion, CEO of Sirion.

"Sirion is an excellent example of how founders and management teams can develop an innovative technology together with experienced investors from the early stages in the laboratory to international technology leadership," says Karlheinz Schmelig, Partner at Creathor Ventures, assessing the collaboration. "Seventy percent of gene therapy trials today utilize viral vector approaches, and we expect this to continue in the future as the demand for targeted delivery of high payloads in the treatment of diseases such as cancer is high," says PerkinElmer CEO Prahlad Singh on the purchase of the Bavarian start-ups. "By combining Sirion's innovative transport technology with our existing tools for processing genetic material, we will be able to accelerate organizations' cell and gene therapy research."