Debiopharm

Rolland-Yves Mauvernay founded Debiopharm in 1979 in Martigny, Switzerland. In 1981, the Cytotech laboratory was created and after a few years it became Debio Recherche Pharmaceutique (R.P.), then Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing. Initially, the company worked on interferon and, in 1982, it began to focus on triptorelin, after having acquired the rights for its development from Tulane University. Triptorelin is a Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH agonist) that has been approved for several indications, including advanced prostate cancer and endometriosis. The first marketing authorization for this medication was obtained in France in 1986.

In 1989, Debiopharm acquired the license for oxaliplatin, a diaminocyclohexane (DACH) platin, from Nagoya City University. The drug was first approved in Europe in 1996 and became a standard treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer. Since launch, triptorelin and oxaliplatin have generated several billion dollars in revenue for the company.

Since 2004, after having occupied different premises in Lausanne, Debiopharm moved its headquarters to a new building: what became "Après-demain Forum" had been initially designed by architect Jean Tschumi as the headquarters commodity trading giant Andre and is a cultural property of national significance.

In 2005, Debiopharm acquired the Canadian company H3 Pharma, rebranded Debiovision, to support the development and worldwide registration of its medicines.

The company's business model relies on establishing partnerships and research agreements with other companies or universities to develop new molecules and run clinical trials before licensing them in case of success. It partnered for instance in 2009 with US-based MSM Protein Technologies to work on a new oncology treatment, in 2011 with Yale University as part of an agreement to develop and commercialise medicine for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, in 2014 with German company Evotec to identify and develop compounds to treat a variety of cancers, or with Canadian company Nobelex Biotech (also in 2014) to develop antibiotics targeting Neisseria gonorrhoeae and enteric species.

In March 2021, Merck KGaA announced the acquisition of Debiopharm's xevinapant program in head and neck cancer for 900 million euros, then dropped the project in 2024.

In September 2024, Isotope Technologies Munich (ITM) announced the exclusive global license for the clinical and commercial development of Debioharm's radiopharmaceutical peptide-based, theranostic pair ITM-91/ITM-94D (Debio 0328/0228).

Structure and subsidiaries

Debiopharm is the Life Science division of the holding company Après-demain (litt. "The Day after Tomorrow") with three subsidiaries active in drug development (Debiopharm International), drug manufacturing (Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing) and investment (Debiopharm Innovation Fund):

Debiopharm International in-licenses product candidates or technologies, develops them into medicines, and then licenses them to third parties for commercialization. This subsidiary is mainly focused on the development of medicines in the fields of oncology and infectious diseases, from preclinical development to full approval of new treatments.

Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing (formerly known as Debio R.P.), based in Martigny, Switzerland, is a pharmaceutical research, development and production company. The Swissmedic-certified production site was renovated and expanded in 2015. Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing provides contract manufacturing and contract research services to Debiopharm.

Debiopharm Innovation Fund provides venture capital for Digital Health companies. The Fund notably invested in Carevive (US-based oncology-focused technology company) in 2020, VivoSense (medical technology) in 2022 and Iktos (artificial intelligence applied to new drug discoveries) in 2023. It also successfully exited Finnish oncology startup Kaiku Health, which was bought in 2020 by Swedish giant Elekta.