Droia sells Tusk Therapeutics to trade in €658m deal

Under the terms of the agreement, Tusk's shareholders will receive an upfront cash payment of €70m, plus additional contingent payments of up to €588m.

Droia's founder, Luc Verelst, is expected to earn up to €300m from the deal, according to Belgian newschannel De Tijd. Shareholder Marc Coucke may get more than €125m, while Emiel Lathouwers is expected to have earned more than €20m, the Belgian publication reported.

Droia, a Belgian specialist VC investor backing companies dedicated to the fight against cancer, founded Tusk in 2014. The VC held a majority stake in the business.

Some of the latest investments by Droia include the backing of biotechnology Belgium-based companies Convert Pharmaceuticals in February, and Octimet Oncology last year.  

Roche, headquartered in Basel, is a pharmaceuticals and diagnostics business active in 100 countries. In 2017, it employed 94,000 people. Roche posted sales of CHF 53.3bn in 2017. 

Company
Based in Stevenage and founded in 2014, Tusk is an immuno-oncology company. It focuses on discovering and developing therapeutic antibodies that harness the power of the immune system for the treatment of cancer. ​

Tusk has established a pipeline of antibodies against a selection of both novel and validated targets that play an important role in the immune response to cancer.

People
Tusk Therapeutics – Luc Dochez (CEO).
Droia Oncology Ventures – Luc Verelst (founder, chairman).

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