igeneon was registered in Vienna in 1999, by Helmut Eckert and Hans Loibner, both of whom formerly held senior positions in research and development at Sandoz/Novartis. The company completed its first financing round and started preclinical development of the IGN101 cancer vaccine, for which clinical trials started in 2000. In 2001, igeneon was reorganised as a public limited company, and completed a second financing round. In March 2005, Aphton announced the formal completion of its acquisition of Igeneon. Pursuant to the agreement, Igeneon equity holders received an aggregate of 21.5 million shares of Aphton common stock in exchange for 100% of the equity of Igeneon. Igeneon became a wholly owned subsidiary of Aphton.