With over 140 operating biotech companies representing almost a quarter of Europe’s biotech market and a strong network of universities and research institutes, Belgium boasts a solid biotech ecosystem that continues to thrive despite recent downturns in biotech financing. Beyond more well-known players like Argenx, acquired by Sanofi, and Galapagos, there are a number of up-and-coming Belgian biotech companies who have secured funding to bring their promising candidates forward.
Imcyse: Backed by Pfizer
Location: Liège
Founded: 2010
Imcyse develops a new class of active and specific immunotherapies for the treatment of severe autoimmune diseases using imotopes, peptides able to block immune responses that trigger immune-mediated diseases, including diabetes type I, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Founded as a spin-off from the Catholic University of Leuven, the company secured EUR 35 million in Series B financing in 2019 and has since concluded a Series B extension financing round, raising an additional EUR 21.3 million. A new participant in the round was Pfizer, taking an equity stake as part of the license agreement for Imcyse’s Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) programme.
Novadip Biosciences: A unique tissue regeneration platform
Locaction: Mont Saint-Guibert
Founded: 2013
Centred on developing treatments to regenerate impaired tissue in patients with significant unmet medical needs, Novadip aims to leverage its unique 3D tissue regeneration technology platform to generate multiple product candidates and address hard and soft tissue reconstruction for patients with limited treatment options. In 2021 the company raised EUR 19 million in the first close of a Series B financing and went on to raise an additional EUR 40 million in a Series B equity round in 2022. The firm’s NVD-003 candidate for congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia (CPT) is currently in phase 1/2.
Confo Therapeutics: Collaborations with Lundbeck and Roche
Location: Ghent
Founded: 2015
Confo Therapeutics, a spin out from Vrije Universiteit Brussels, is focused on compounds targeting difficult-to-drug G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). By stabilizing GPCRs, Confo aims to screen for agonist activity against its targets using a more efficient and sensitive platform than high-throughput screening. After landing validatory collaboration deals with Lundbeck and Roche in 2017, the company has raised a total of EUR 47.7 million in funding over 9 rounds. Confo’s peripheral neuropathic pain candidate is in the pre-clinical stage.
Flamingo Therapeutics: Joining forces with Dynacure
Location: Leuven
Founded: 2020
Flamingo develops RNA therapeutics and aims to advance candidates against targets in oncology that have previously been considered “undruggable.” Flamingo’s lead programmes are danvatirsen, an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that selectively targets STAT3, which is in a Phase II trial for Head & Neck cancer (danvatirsen in combination with pembrolizumab), and FTX-001 targeting MALAT-1 in cancer. The company has an ongoing strategic partnership with Ionis Pharmaceuticals and recently announced a merger with French biotech Dynacure that will combine both companies’ oncology pipelines under the roof of Flamingo Therapeutics.
MRM Health: Microbiome Therapeutics
Location: Ghent
Founded: 2020
MRM Health is focused on the development of microbiome-based therapeutics built on the firm’s proprietary technology platform. In 2020 MRM entered into a collaboration agreement with DuPont Nutrition Biosciences for the development of microbiome-based therapeutics for metabolic diseases. The company has raised a total of EUR 16 million in three rounds and has two candidates, for ulcerative colitis and poucitis in phase 1b/2a.
