The Center for Drug Design and Discovery Raises Impressive 70.5 Million Euros for Its Fourth Fund
The Center for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3), a leading organization specialized in translating innovative biomedical research into life-saving medicines, today announced the successful completion of CD3 IV, raising €70.5 million. This investment brings the total capital managed by CD3 to 154.5 million euros.
The fresh capital is provided by KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) – whose contribution is borne by the European Commission’s InvestEU program – and by the Gemma Frisius Fund (GFF) . It will be used to convert groundbreaking biomedical discoveries from both biotech companies and academic research groups at KU Leuven and other universities into new medicines that improve the lives of people worldwide.
Founded in 2006 by the EIF and LRD, KU Leuven’s technology transfer service, CD3 initially started as a tech transfer experiment aimed at bridging the gap between advanced biomedical research from academic institutions and the pharmaceutical industry. Today, CD3 is an established investment vehicle offering professional drug discovery capabilities in its collaborations with academic researchers, and providing funds to support and invest in spin-off companies.
With this track record, we are excited to continue investing in this excellent model that combines professional drug discovery with academic innovative research to drive technology transfer and help patients.
Paul Van Dun, general manager of LRD
This latest round of funding is a clear confirmation of confidence in CD3’s mission and track record. With the injection of the new capital, CD3 is ready to continue its strategic investments in early-stage drug discovery projects, with a focus on small molecule and antibody technologies, and to advance potential drugs to the clinical development phase in collaboration with industrial partners and investors.
Additionally, CD3 IV is committed to advancing meaningful social impact by actively supporting efforts that prepare for future viral pandemics.
Over the past fifteen years, CD3 has made strategic investments in numerous projects aimed at developing innovative medicines to combat viral infections and address critical conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancer and pain. These investments have led to fruitful partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and several new medicines in development.
Dr. Patrick Chaltin, Managing Director of CD3, is enthusiastic about the new financing: “This capital injection not only allows us to build on past successes, it also allows us to continue to break new ground in the discovery of promising medicines that potentially address major unmet medical needs. This confirms the confidence that our partners LRD and EIF, now supplemented by the GFF, place in CD3 – especially given the difficult financing environment. It is highly motivating to work with partners who support our sharing a vision to translate academic research into life-saving medicines, with return on investment, but above all with a major impact on human health, including in the field of pandemic preparedness.”
“Belgium is truly at the forefront of medical research and the EIB Group has supported many players in this sector in recent years,” said Roger Havenith, Deputy Chief Executive of the EIF. “But it can still be a challenge to get the right type of financing to scale up promising ideas. The pandemic has shown how important it is to get this right. We are very pleased to be able to support CD3’s new fund so that new treatments and medicines can find their way to patients.”
“Since its inception, CD3 has developed more than 30 drug discovery projects in collaboration with KU Leuven and other academic institutions from across Europe, resulting in more than 20 partnerships and multiple innovative drugs in development, several of which are in the clinic,” says Paul Van Dun, general manager of LRD. “With this track record, we are excited to continue investing in this excellent model that combines professional drug discovery with academic innovation to drive technology transfer and help patients.”