Existing shareholder Biohaven has agreed to purchase the remaining stake in Kleo Pharmaceuticals, a Yale spinout it first backed in 2016.
Kleo Pharmaceuticals, a US-based immunotherapy developer spun out of Yale University, has been acquired by biopharmaceutical company Biohaven.
The all-stock transaction valued Kleo at approximately $20m. Biohaven, also a Yale spinout, already owned a 42% stake in Kleo.
Founded in 2015, Kleo Pharmaceuticals is working on immunotherapies that target cancerous and virally infected cells. It has treatments in development for conditions including multiple myeloma and covid-19.
Kleo emerged out of Prof David Spiegler’s lab and as part of Biohaven’s acquisition has executed an exclusive licence with Yale University for a separate technology developed in the same lab called extracellular degrader.
Going forward, Kleo will operate as Biohaven Labs and serve as the integrated chemistry and discovery research arm of Biohaven. It will maintain a range of existing partnerships, including one with biopharmaceutical company PeptiDream focused on immuno-oncology.
PeptiDream led a $21m series B round for Kleo in late 2018, when Biohaven also contributed. The latter had already contributed to a series A round in 2016 that closed in mid-2018 at $13.5m, according to a regulatory filing.
