" Impressive biotech IPO on Euronext Brussels"
Success stories
Ablynx
Biopharmaceutical company Ablynx specialises in nanobodies, a new class of drugs based on antibodies from animals in the camel family like llamas. This special technology has potentially multiple applications in developing new drugs against cancer, Alzheimer’s, inflammations and thromboses.
In November 2006, Ablynx signed a major contract with Wyeth for developing anti-TNFa nanobodies. Anti-TNFa therapies represent a blockbuster market for treating inflammations. In January 2007, following earlier contracts with Centocor, Procter & Gamble and Novartis, Ablynx signed a multi-million dollar contract with German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim to research drugs for treating Alzheimer’s. Existing investors were joined in a new investment round by KBC and SR One, the venture capital arm of pharma-giant Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK).
With its IPO in the last quarter of 2007, Ablynx collected EUR 85 million, which is a record for a biotech company on Euronext Brussels. This IPO demonstrates how Flemish start-ups can grow wings with venture capital from Gimv.
