B P Collins advises Ceva Animal Health as it signs an agreement with Touchlight to use Touchlight’s dbDNA technology in animal health
Ceva and Touchlight entered into an agreement and a long-term collaboration for the development and manufacture of new dbDNA vaccines and therapeutics across a broad range of animal health indications.
Libourne and London, 17 January 2025– B P Collins LLP has acted for Ceva Animal Health (Ceva), the 5th largest global animal health company, in its deal with Touchlight to secure the rights to develop and manufacture future products using Touchlight’s dbDNA technology across the animal health field.
B P Collins’ corporate team, led by partner Alex Zachary and supported by senior associate, Victoria Taylor, and solicitors, Holly McNeil and Stella Seimeni, was assisted by employment associate, Greg Clark.
Under the stewardship of Dr Ian Thompson, a global leader in vaccines, Ceva and Touchlight will pursue a broad-ranging development programme to bring innovative DNA vaccine products to market for animal health. While the financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed, the agreement includes an upfront payment, development milestones and royalties on sales of commercialised products.
The partnership brings together the world-leading development and commercialisation capability of Ceva with Touchlight’s best-in-class dbDNA technology which enables rapid, high purity enzymatic DNA production and eliminates antibiotic resistance genes.
Stonehaven Transactions (the transactions advisory arm of Stonehaven) acted as strategic adviser to Touchlight in relation to the deal, and Arnold & Porter acted as legal adviser. In addition to B P Collins, Ceva was also assisted by Ernst and Young.
Ceva Chairman and CEO Marc Prikazsky remarked “This is an exciting technology that will complement very well our innovation in nucleic acid vaccines pipeline. Touchlight’s unique expertise in synthetic DNAs and protein designs together with Ceva’s leadership in development and manufacturing of animal vaccines, being the first company to have launched an RNA vaccine for avian flu, will support the development of effective novel technology vaccines that are so much needed by the industry.”
Alex Zachary, corporate and commercial partner, B P Collins added “We are extremely proud to have supported our longstanding client, Ceva, on this significant transaction, which could result in considerable advancements in the field of animal vaccines and therapeutic treatments.”
Touchlight Founder and Executive Chair, Jonny Ohlson said “This deal is the product of an extremely successful collaboration between Touchlight and Stonehaven, and in Ceva we have found a partner with the ambition, entrepreneurialism and insight required to take dbDNA products forward within animal health. We are excited that we can deploy our industry-leading dbDNA technology in such a broad ranging programme.”
About Ceva Sante Animale
Ceva Animal Health (Ceva) is the 5th largest global animal health company, led by experienced veterinarians, whose mission is to provide innovative health solutions for all animals to ensure the highest level of care and well-being. Our portfolio includes preventive medicine such as vaccines, pharmaceutical and animal welfare products for farm and companion animals, as well as equipment and services to provide the best experience for our customers. With more than 7,000 employees located in 47 countries, Ceva strives daily to bring to life its vision as a One Health company: “Together, beyond animal health”.
About Touchlight
Touchlight is a privately-owned innovation-driven CDMO based in London, U.K., focused on the provision of DNA services and manufacture of enzymatically produced doggybone DNA (dbDNA™) to enable the development of genetic medicines. Touchlight provide rapid, enzymatic DNA development and manufacturing for all advanced therapy production, including mRNA, viral and non-viral gene therapy and DNA API. dbDNA is a minimal, linear, covalently closed structure, which eliminates bacterial sequences. Touchlight’s revolutionary enzymatic production platform enables unprecedented speed, scale, and the ability to target genes with a size and complexity that is impossible with current technologies. Clients can be supported from pre-clinical through development and supply, to licencing and tech transfer for use in-house.
About B P Collins LLP
With more than 120 people now employed across its four offices in Thame, Gerrards Cross, Ickenham and London, and having recently achieved Lexcel accreditation, awarded only to top-tier firms – B P Collins has provided legal advice to businesses and individuals for nearly 60 years.
