Tennis champion Novak Djokovic, recently expelled from Australia after a long saga over his vaccine status, is the co-founder and majority shareholder of a biotech company working on a treatment for COVID-19, says Wednesday the director of the Danish company.
• Read also: Australian Open: Humbert positive for COVID-19, other players infected
• Read also: Australian Open: organizers ‘deeply regret’ impact of Djokovic case on tournament
• Read also: Novak Djokovic, “persona non grata” of tennis tournaments
“He is one of the founders of my company, created in June 2020,” Ivan Loncarevic, head of QuantBioRes, told AFP.
The biotech’s bylaws, available from the Danish Companies Registry, show the tennis world number one and his wife Jelena Djokovic together own 80% of QuantBioRes which employs around 20 people in Denmark, Slovenia, Australia and UK.
“Our goal is to develop new technology to fight resistant viruses and bacteria and we decided to use COVID as a showcase,” he explained.
“If we succeed with COVID-19, we will succeed with all the other viruses,” he added.
The company plans to launch clinical trials in Britain in the summer, Loncarevic said.
The unvaccinated Serbian star had received an exemption to come to Melbourne to play the Australian Open despite the obligation to be doubly vaccinated to enter Australian territory. After a legal fight, he was finally deported on Sunday.
Contacted by AFP, Djokovic’s spokesperson declined to comment on his participation in the Danish company.