Major investment in Swedish production of advanced vaccines and biological drugs in Matfors
The Swedish investment company Flerie Invest has made a major investment to establish an innovation hub for advanced vaccines and biological drugs in Matfors in northern Sweden. The hub will provide Sweden with an infrastructure for process development and large-scale production in collaboration with innovative biotech companies.
The establishment of the hub follows an acquisition of a subsidiary of the American company Charles River Laboratories Inc led by Flerie Invest. The new company will trade as NorthX Biologics.
In addition to the $52m acquisition and further investment by Flerie Invest, the Swedish Government, through its innovation agency Vinnova, will support the establishment of an innovation hub for advanced vaccines and drugs based on DNA, RNA, proteins and cells at the site in Matfors. This will become a hub for collaborations with innovative biotech companies and research institutes in Sweden, the Nordic countries and internationally.
“We are delighted to contribute to Sweden having a commercially and financially sustainable infrastructure that enables homegrown and foreign companies to expand their operations.” said Thomas Eldered, founder of Flerie Invest.
“Through the investment in the innovation hub in Matfors, we will be able to maintain the production and development of new drugs in Sweden, which is an important piece of the puzzle for building Sweden's position as a leading nation in life science. The innovation hub for advanced development and production will complement TestaCenter in Uppsala, which supports companies and researchers in the early stages of development of new biological drugs” said Jenni Nordborg, national coordinator for Life science and head of the government's Life science office.
“Testa Center in Uppsala, with support from Vinnova, has helped many innovative companies to develop novel pharmaceutical processes that could be applied at larger scale at NorthX Biologics,” added Lotta Ljungqvist, CEO of Testa Center. “This investment is in line with our ambition to support ecosystems for technological innovation and biological production in Sweden.”
For information contact:
Thomas Eldered, President Flerie Invest, contact(at)flerie.com, +46 (0)8 55921870
Ted Fjällman, CEO NorthX Biologics, media(at)nxbio.com, +46 (0)8 55926888
About NorthX Biologics AB
NorthX Biologics is a Swedish pharmaceutical company with a focus on process development and large-scale production of advanced biological drugs and vaccines. The basis for the company is a facility in Matfors that specializes in DNA and protein production and today has 128 highly qualified employees and a production area of 7,000 square meters. Acting CEO of NorthX Biologics is Ted Fjällman, Partner at Flerie Invest and former CEO of the biotechnology company Prokarium, which develops vaccines and immunotherapy against cancer. He has more than 20 years of experience in life science research and company building.
About Flerie Invest AB
Flerie Invest is a biotech and pharma investor managing a portfolio of more than 16 companies in Sweden, UK, US, the Netherlands, Iceland and Israel. The investment focus is on drug development and tools for drug development. The company was founded in 2010 by Thomas Eldered, who co-founded Recipharm and built it to be one of the top five CDMOs globally. Flerie Invest, with offices in Stockholm and London, is an active member of SwedenBIO and the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA).