Ceva Animal Health and Touchlight sign an agreement to use Touchlight’s dbDNA technology in animal health
Published: 16 January 2025
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, 16 January 2025
Ceva Animal Health (Ceva), the 5th largest global animal health company, today announced to being granted rights to develop and manufacture future products using Touchlight’s dbDNA technology across the animal health field.
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. Ceva was assisted by BP Collins and Ernst and Young.
“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.”
Ceva Chairman and CEO Marc Prikazsky
“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”
Touchlight Founder and Executive Chair, Jonny Ohlson
Press Contacts:
Ceva Animal Health
Emilie Barrail – Group Head of External Communication, emilie.barrail@ceva.com
Bérénice Chauveau – PR Senior manger, berenice.chauveau@backbone.consulting
Touchlight
Tommy Duncan – Chief Business Officer, tommy.duncan@touchlight.com
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”.
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About Touchlight
Touchlight is an innovation-driven leading CDMO pioneering enzymatic GMP DNA production to enable the genetic medicine revolution. As pioneers, with an FDA Drug Master File accepted in 2022 followed in 2025 with the world’s first cell-free DNA GMP license, Touchlight’s enzymatic DNA technology is on the cutting edge of AAV, mRNA, DNA vaccine, and gene editing technology with its state-of-the-art facility recognised by ISPE’s Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) for Innovation.
With multiple client products already in the clinic, Touchlight’s evidence-based, synthetic DNA manufacturing solutions offer a scalable, sustainable alternative to plasmid DNA (pDNA) for all stages of pre-clinical, clinical and commercial development. The company and technology are built on the conviction that DNA is fundamental to the future of medicine. Traditional methods, based on bacterial fermentation, are slow, costly, and unable to meet the growing demands of genetic medicine due to limited scalability and speed. Founded in 2007, Touchlight’s team is inspired by breakthroughs in genetic medicine, recognising the urgent need for innovative DNA production techniques to support the future of genetic therapies.
For more information please contact:
Karen Fallen, Chief Executive Officer
Verna McErlane, Chief Commercial Officer
E: info@touchlight.com
T: +44 20 8481 9200
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