Danish start-up biotech company Survac, with a total injected capital of � 0.5 million, was sold to German pharma Merck for �10.9 million

"It is a fantastic deal. It proves that it pays to invest in Danish high technology companies during the early stages of development even if it is risky. The deal proves that the interest for acquiring technologies and drug projects is present at a very early stage", says Sten Verland, general manager in the venture company, Biolink Capital, one of Survac's investors.

Survac is involved in developing technology to recognise and modify peptides useful for developing therapeutic cancer vaccines.

Dr. Wolfgang Wein, senior vice president for Merck's commercial unit oncology says: "A key element of Merck's strategy in oncology is to expand our clinical pipeline of innovative, targeted cancer treatments and Survac's lead candidate already shows highly encouraging results in exploratory clinical trials". Merck plans to initiate preclinical development of the first Survac product in 2006.

Sources: Invest in Denmark, Copenhagen Capacity