4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals

Who owns 4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals?

4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals is currently owned by NRW.BANK through NRW.Venture (2006 vintage), since 2019.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-08-10

About 4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals

4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals is a German clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Hennigsdorf, near Berlin, developing precision therapies for shock and acute cardiovascular collapse in critical care. Its lead candidate, invobenitug (formerly procizumab), is a first-in-class humanized monoclonal antibody designed to neutralize circulating dipeptidyl peptidase 3 (cDPP3), a molecular driver of hemodynamic instability and organ failure in patients suffering from shock. The company centers its approach on biomarker-guided treatment, selecting patients with elevated cDPP3 for therapy, and concentrates on cardiogenic shock, a condition it links to more than 100,000 deaths a year across the United States and Europe. Invobenitug has entered Phase 1b/2a clinical development and, in 2026, secured U.S. FDA IND clearance and Fast Track designation in cardiogenic shock.

Ownership journey

4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2013 in Hennigsdorf by Dr. Andreas Bergmann, a serial critical-care entrepreneur previously behind the diagnostics and therapeutics ventures BRAHMS, sphingotec and Adrenomed. The company built its early pipeline around cDPP3 biology and advanced its antibody program through preclinical and first-in-human work, closing an initial Series A round in December 2019. NRW.Venture, the venture-capital arm of the regional development bank NRW.BANK, has backed the company from 2019 as part of its financing syndicate and remains an active investor, with no exit or secondary transaction recorded. Successive rounds have since funded the clinical build-out, culminating in a Series C financing that closed in 2026 at over EUR 64 million.

Under PE ownership

The venture capital raised since 2019 has been directed at moving invobenitug from preclinical research into the clinic and at building the regulatory and manufacturing base for a critical-care antibody. Since the investment the company completed compassionate-use cases that produced first-in-human evidence of shock reversal, published in 2025, and dosed the first patient in its Phase 1b/2a trial in July 2025. It selected AGC Biologics to manufacture the antibody and, through 2026, obtained U.S. FDA IND clearance and Fast Track designation for cardiogenic shock while winning non-dilutive support including an EUR 8 million Horizon Europe grant and a EUR 3.2 million KMU-innovativ grant. The Series C financing that closed in 2026 at more than EUR 64 million has been earmarked to expand the clinical program toward later-stage studies.