Deals & Cases
MLL advised AFFiRiS AG with regard to its sale of its IP portfolio to AC Immune SA
MLL represented AFFiRiS AG with regard to its sale of the entire portfolio of anti-alpha-synclein immunotherapies to AC Immune SA in exchange for shares in AC Immune SA with regard to all Swiss law aspects. AFFiRiS AG is an Austrian biotechnology company developing vaccines for the treatment of neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and hypercholesterolemia. AC Immune SA (NASDAQ: ACIU) is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company. The total value of the equity-based acquisition was $58.7 million. The transaction involved structuring an asset deal to transfer the assets from AFFiRiS AG to AC Immune SA, the subscription of shares in the listed AC Immune SA, and the financing of AFFiRiS AG by its shareholders.
Under the terms of the transaction, AFFiRiS AG sold all of the assets and related intellectual property of AFFiRiS AG associated with its portfolio of anti-alpha-synclein immunotherapies in exchange for shares valued at $58.7 million in NASDAQ-listed AC Immune SA. The portfolio transferred by AFFiRiS AG includes the PD01 vaccine against Parkinson’s disease, which recently showed promising results in a Phase 1 trial. Also involved in the transaction are various well-known shareholders of AFFiRiS AG, such as MIG funds, the Strüngmann family’s Athos Service GmbH, and First Capital Partner GmbH, which are lead investors in COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer BioNTech. With the support of its new shareholders, experienced in active vaccines, AC Immune SA will test an optimized version of the PD01 vaccine against Parkinson’s disease in a biomarker-based Phase 2 trial.
AFFiRiS AG was represented by E+H (Marco Steiner, Johannes Feilmair) as lead counsel, MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep AG (Andrea Sieber, partner, corporate law, Philipp Falk, associate, corporate law) for all Swiss law aspects and Ashurst (Lloyd Harmetz) for US law aspects.
