Vectalys, a biotech company specialized in manufacturing lentiviral solutions for gene delivery, and FlashCell, a company developing non-integrating lentiviral delivered RNA therapeutics, have merged to create Flash Therapeutics, a new privately held gene therapy company developing gene and cell therapeutics. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.

Flash Therapeutics will advance two complementary businesses: Development of novel RNA therapeutics based on LentiFlash, a proprietary non-integrative lentiviral delivery technology for incurable diseases; and worldwide contract development and manufacturing expertise and support from discovery through GMP production for clients developing lentivirally-delivered RNA and DNA therapies.

In connection with the merger, Flash Therapeutics received a €3.3 million investment from Auriga Partners, a leading private equity investor, through its Auriga IV Bioseed fund; Galia Gestion, a private equity fund based in Bordeaux, France; and two angel investors, Jean-Pierre Arnaud and Alain Sainsot. Auriga and Vectalys were initial investors in FlashCell, which was established in 2017.

“Flash Therapeutics capitalizes on both the emergence of gene and cell therapies as major new therapeutic modalities for the treatment of genetic and other previously untreatable diseases, and of lentiviral vectors as a commercially and medically validated approach to gene delivery,” said Pascale Bouillé, chief executive officer, Flash Therapeutics. “Our new company is positioned to build on the lentiviral development and production technologies Vectalys developed and applied over the past 13 years, and to advance a new class of RNA therapies based on its transient, non-integrating lentiviral technology, LentiFlash.”

Dr. Bouillé noted that Flash Therapeutics is initially developing RNA therapeutics based on LentiFlash in the areas of blood and liver diseases. The company plans to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to develop RNA therapies in other disease areas.

The Company’s lentiviral development and production business, which will continue to operate under the Vectalys manufacturing platform name, will expand as part of Flash Therapeutics to include scalable GMP manufacturing capabilities. The GMP facility, which is expected to become fully operational in 2019, is being established through a recently signed, three-year partnership with Hospital Saint-Louis, Lariboisière, Fernand-Widal (Assistance Public Hospitals of Paris AP- HP) to develop and produce gene and cell therapy drugs.

“Rapid growth in the development of gene and cell therapies, along with an increasing number of products in clinical trials, are driving the global need for lentiviral manufacturing technology and expertise,” said Dr. Bouillé. “With capabilities for development and manufacturing that will span from discovery through GMP production, Flash Therapeutics is poised to fill that need. Our lentiviral development and production technologies, along with LentiFlash, will allow us to participate broadly in the development and commercialization of gene and cell therapy in a wide range of difficult-to-treat diseases.”