Ballard Spahr Advises 3Helix in Funding Round Led by BASF

With support from a team from Ballard Spahr, biotechnology company 3Helix Inc. has formalized a deal with BASF Corporation, the North American arm of the German corporation that is the world’s largest chemical producer, that will bring 3Helix’s collagen-hybridizing peptide (CHP) technology to the personal care market. Other institutional investors also participated in the funding round.

BASF’s equity investment and licensing agreement give it the exclusive right to commercialize 3Helix’s CHP technology in the personal care market, in which synthetic collagen-like peptides bind to damaged and denatured collagen. BASF aims to launch the CHP solutions to the personal care field, where it has extraordinary anti-aging applications, in 2025.

Ryan J. Udell and Scott D. Marty, Ph.D. led the Ballard Spahr transaction team that represented 3Helix. They were supported by Steven N. Dupont, Adam J. Chelminiak and Richard L. Catalano. Messrs. Udell and Marty co-lead the firm’s Life Sciences Industry Team. The attorneys of that team—many of whom hold advanced degrees in the sciences—focus on corporate, litigation, IP, and real estate matters specific to the life sciences industry.

BASF Corporation, the North American affiliate of Germany’s BASF SE, has approximately 16,000 employees in North America and had 2022 sales of $25.7 billion. Founded in 2015 by Drs. Yang Li and Michael Yu, 3Helix works with technology the two co-founders invented at Johns Hopkins University and now focuses on commercializing fibrotic diagnostics.

For further information, please see 3Helix’s press release.

For media inquiries, please contact Will Ashenmacher at 612.371.5792.