We don’t usually invest in Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics, but we made a happy exception for Vigil Neuroscience. The company is developing both an antibody and a small molecule targeting the TREM2 receptor. TREM2 is found on the surface of microglia (the brain’s immune cells), and its activation helps microglia engage in brain tissue regeneration.
We’ve always been interested in this intersection of immunology and neurodegeneration (I once worked on a product in this space), and the fact that the company is backed by Atlas Venture made it even more compelling.
We invested in Vigil in early 2024, but over the course of the year, other companies in the field announced they were halting their TREM2 programs. Naturally, VIGL’s stock also dropped, but after speaking with management and taking another close look at the data, we concluded that the failures of competitors didn’t significantly affect VIGL’s chances of success—the issue seemed to be with how others were targeting TREM2, not with the target itself. In addition, Vigil went on to publish promising, albeit early, clinical data.
As a result, the company, which was trading at $2.30 per share, was acquired by Sanofi at $8 per share—a nearly 250% premium over the market price. That doesn’t happen often. Congratulations to the Vigil’s team, and best wishes to the program going forward!