28. Februar 2025 Pacira BioSciences Acquires GQ Bio

As part of the deal, HTGF, one of Europe’s leading seed investors, sold its shares. HTGF recognized the strong technology at the forefront of scientific development, combined with a visionary team, early on and led the initial funding round in 2012 together with Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg. HTGF closely supported the successful development of GQ Bio and reaffirmed its strong commitment in the Series A round in 2021.

GQ Bio has been pioneering a high-capacity adenoviral vector (HCAd) gene therapy vector platform to address some of the big challenges in the gene therapy field: Transfer of large and multiple genes with a single vector, highly efficient gene delivery and large-scale manufacturability. Based on this HCAd vector platform, GQ Bio has been developing transformative treatments for chronic, prevalent diseases such as osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration. PCRX-201 was originally developed by GQ Bio before it was acquired by Pacira and advanced into clinical trials. In November 2024, Pacira reported promising data from a large Phase 1 study in which PCRX-201 provided sustained improvements in knee pain, stiffness, and function through two years following local administration, with a well-tolerated safety profile. In order to continuously improve the HCAd platform, GQ Bio has “digitalized” the HCAd biology and is employing bioinformatics tools including AI to generate the next generation of gene therapy candidates. GQ Bio was co-founded by Kilian Guse and based on his postdoctoral work at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

The transaction builds upon Pacira’s previous investments in GQ Bio, as well as the two companies’ partnership for the development of a commercially scalable manufacturing process for PCRX-201 (enekinragene inzadenovec) and other products utilizing GQ Bio’s high-capacity adenovirus, or HCAd, gene therapy vector platform.

Pacira intends to maintain GQ Bio’s operations and invest in its HCAd gene therapy vector platform and innovative products built on the platform, leveraging Pacira’s clinical, regulatory and commercial capabilities.

“We are confident that this transaction will enhance our ability to address unmet patient needs,” said Frank D. Lee, chief executive officer of Pacira. “We have seen GQ Bio’s platform generate encouraging clinical data with PCRX-201 in osteoarthritis, underscoring the potential of this novel platform. Beyond the lead indication in osteoarthritis, we believe the HCAd platform has great potential to solidify Pacira as a leading developer of new treatments for musculoskeletal pain and adjacencies by addressing the underlying cause of chronic pain using a targeted molecular approach.”

Kilian Guse, chief executive office of GQ Bio, said: “We are very excited to join Pacira and to bring our gene therapy expertise and technology to this great organization. Pacira and GQ Bio have already been collaborating for several years, and we look very much forward to continuing innovating the gene therapy and musculoskeletal diseases spaces together with the Pacira team. We would like to thank the entire GQ Bio team for their extraordinarily hard, smart and passionate work as well as the many people and groups that have supported GQ Bio on its journey. We believe that under the Pacira roof, we will be able to expand and accelerate the development of HCAd-based gene therapies to bring innovative medicine to patients in need.”

“GQ Bio has demonstrated that groundbreaking technology in Germany can enable the development of innovative therapies of global interest,” said Lena-Sophie Schütter, Investment Manager at HTGF. “The founders have driven the company forward with full commitment and dedication, making this exit possible through early and close collaboration with Pacira Biosciences Inc.”

“This is probably one of the most exciting gene therapy platforms I have ever had the pleasure to be involved with in my years of investing,” commented Angelika Vlachou, Partner at HTGF and Board Member of GQ Bio. “We at HTGF are more than happy to have been part of it since the early beginning. We congratulate the entire GQ Bio team on this great success.”