13. September 2023 – Pierre Fabre Laboratories, the French pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic company, announced the acquisition of Vertical Bio AG, a developer of novel cancer therapies. Vertical Bio was founded by Versant Ventures and was launched out of the firm's Ridgeline Discovery Engine based in Basel, Switzerland. Leveraging Ridgeline's biology capabilities, Vertical Bio advanced VERT-002 through preclinical studies and towards an IND submission. The first-in-human studies are expected to begin in 2024.

Walder Wyss advised Versant Ventures on this transaction. The team included Alexander Gutmans (Partner, Corporate/M&A), Lucas Maurer (Associate, Corporate/M&A), Simon Olstein (Associate, Corporate/M&A), Karina Tschon (Senior Associate, Corporate/M&A) and Michelle Bruni (Managing Associate, Corporate/M&A and Tax).