Sofinnova Partners Announces Sale of Corvidia Therapeutics to Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk acquires Corvidia for $2.1B with an upfront payment of $725M in cash

Sofinnova Partners co-founded Corvidia as its sole seed financial investor in 2015 with serial entrepreneur Michael Davidson

PARIS, France - June 11, 2020 - Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the sale of its portfolio company Corvidia Therapeutics to Novo Nordisk, for $2.1 billion, including an upfront payment of $725 million. Corvidia, an AstraZeneca spin-off, is a clinical-stage company focused on the research, development and commercialization of transformative therapies for cardio-renal diseases. Sofinnova Partners was Corvidia's sole seed financial investor in 2015 and it has remained the largest shareholder throughout the company's evolution.

Sofinnova Partners helped recruit Corvidia's top management team members, including Sylvie Grégoire, a seasoned pharma executive and entrepreneur, in 2016, to chair the Board, and Marc de Garidel as Chief Executive Officer in 2018. Before joining Corvidia, Mr. de Garidel was the Chairman and CEO of Ipsen, a publicly-listed French pharmaceutical company.

Graziano Seghezzi, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, commented, "This acquisition is the culmination of a quintessential Sofinnova Partners investment, from seed to exit. We are especially proud of the high-caliber team we helped establish, which includes veteran executives like Marc de Garidel, who has been instrumental in this deal."

Mr. de Garidel, CEO of Corvidia, said, "Sofinnova Partners has played a central role in building this company from the very beginning, leveraging its extensive international network to bring in key hires and providing strategic guidance to advance our scientific work around precision therapies for cardiovascular diseases."  

Sofinnova Partners co-founded Corvidia alongside Michael Davidson, M.D., a serial entrepreneur and a recognized authority in the field of cardiology. Dr. Davidson was co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Omthera Pharmaceuticals, for which Sofinnova Partners was also the lead investor, and which was acquired by AstraZeneca for $443 million in 2013.

Mr. Seghezzi added, "This milestone demonstrates the strength of our cornerstone strategy of backing extraordinary entrepreneurs with whom we have long-standing relationships. Moreover, it exemplifies the resilience of our business of developing game-changing therapies that will impact patients' lives, while consistently generating outsized venture returns for investors, despite the challenges of the current global crisis." 

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, with offices in London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of 40 professionals from all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The firm focuses on paradigm-shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners invests across the Life Sciences value chain as a lead or cornerstone investor, from very early-stage opportunities to late-stage/public companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 48 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com

About Corvidia Therapeutics

Based in Boston, MA, Corvidia is a biotechnology company pioneering the next generation of cardiovascular therapies. Leveraging functional genomics, the company's founding team has decoded previously unrecognized genetic susceptibilities within general cardiovascular populations. Corvidia's pipeline programs precisely identify patients with unique sensitivity to specific biologic pathways, potentially allowing for the rapid development of therapies targeting those pathways. For more information, please visit: www.corvidiatx.com