Amsterdam and Utrecht, 15 June 2021 – Today, Sanquinnovate and Thuja announce that they signed a 5-year collaboration agreement. Sanquinnovate is Sanquin’s technology valorization and business development arm, creating new value-adding therapeutics and diagnostics to tackle challenges in the fields of hematology, immunology and oncology. Thuja is a venture capital fund manager investing in early stage life sciences innovations with high healthcare impact potential. Under the agreement, Sanquinnovate and Thuja will jointly evaluate projects and business plans regarding novel therapeutics and diagnostics, combining insights and experience. The aim of the collaboration is to progress excellent scientific projects into start-up companies, to develop important novel medicines and diagnostics.
Michel Briejer, Managing Partner at Thuja comments: "We are extremely pleased with the closer collaboration with Sanquinnovate. Sanquin has a long and strong scientific track record in blood based science, specifically in the fields of hematology, immunology and oncology. Sanquin Research employs numerous top-notch scientists and doctors, who made and are still making many important inventions. We are honored to be placed in a position to help and leverage our expertise, and for the best opportunities invest capital to create value for patients."
Pieter de Geus, General Manager Sanquinnovate
“Formalization of the collaboration with Thuja is an important step for us," says Pieter de Geus, General Manager of Sanquinnovate. "With the more than 200 scientists working within Sanquin, we are conducting great science that can translate into important innovations for new medical applications. With Thuja's early input and help, we believe we can promote the best projects to become successful."
In the past years, Sanquinnovate and Thuja have already worked together to create Alveron Pharma which was incorporated in 2019. Alveron develops novel drugs to enable doctors to treat life-threatening bleeding events in patients who are using anticoagulant drugs.
About Thuja
Thuja Capital Management (Thuja) manages several venture capital funds aimed at building and scaling companies in the fields of (bio)pharmaceuticals, medtech and digital health. In addition to generating a financial return for its investors, Thuja’s investments aim to positively impact the health and well-being of patients. Thuja serves physicians and patients worldwide by providing capital to daring entrepreneurs with ground-breaking product concepts locally. For more information visit www.thujacapital.com.
About Sanquinnovate
Sanquinnovate is a daughter company of Sanquin Health Solutions BV, and is Sanquin’s valorization arm, creating new value-adding products and services/assets based on the science of blood to tackle challenges in hematology, immunology and oncology. Sanquinnovate fosters projects and collaborations with innovators and financial sponsors, to turn ideas into tangible products for healthcare. Sanquinnovate actively scouts and evaluates these ideas with the focus on their added value for patients, patentability, competitive advantage, and of course scientific excellence. Once ideas have met these criteria and are matured to a pre-clinical proof-of-concept phase Sanquinnovate goes on the quest to find the right partner. Sanquinnovate works with both companies and investors that can advance our technologies, therapeutics and devices into IND-enabling development, clinical trials and beyond.
About Sanquin
Sanquin provides life-saving blood products, therapeutics, services, diagnostics and knowledge for health care. Sanquin Foundation is a knowledge-driven not-for-profit organisation that, by law, supplies life-saving blood derived transfusion products, and scientific/medical support in this area to Dutch hospitals. Through scientific research, and its commercial branch Sanquin Health Solutions BV, Sanquin finds, develops, and implements new solutions, products and services for medical/diagnostic problems in the fields of transfusion medicine, hematology, oncology and immunology.
Please read Dutch pressrelease here.