Jan 20 (AFP) – Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, recently deported from Australia due to his coronavirus vaccine status, is co-founder and majority shareholder of a biotech firm developing a Covid-19 treatment, the Danish company’s CEO said Wednesday.
“He is one of the founders of my company we founded in June 2020,” the chief executive of QuantBioRes, Ivan Loncarevic, told AFP.
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According to information publicly available in the Danish business register, 34-year-old Djokovic and his wife, Jelena, together hold a stake of 80 percent in QuantBioRes, which employs a workforce of around 20 in Denmark, Slovenia, Australia and Britain.
“We aim to develop a new technology to fight viruses and resistant bacteria and we decided to use Covid as a showcase,” Loncarevic said.
“If we succeed with Covid, we will succeed with other viruses.”
QuantBioRes is planning to launch clinical trials in the UK in the summer, the CEO said.
READ: No vaccine, no French Open for Djokovic as rules tighten
The unvaccinated men’s world number one flew out of Melbourne on Sunday after he failed in a last-gasp court bid to stay and play in the opening Grand Slam of the year, where he was targeting a record 21st major title.
His dramatic departure followed a protracted, high-stakes legal battle between the athlete and Australian authorities that cast a dark shadow over the tournament.
Contacted by AFP, Djokovic’s spokesman declined to comment on the tennis star’s stake in the Danish biotech firm.
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