The development of innovative treatments for infectious diseases such as hepatitis B and tuberculosis as well as for human papillomavirus-induced cancer will get a boost thanks to a new €20 million loan to French biopharmaceutical company Transgene SA, provided by the InnovFin Infectious Diseases (ID) facility.
Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "This deal under InnovFin ID once again shows the EU's commitment to addressing major public healthcare challenges. We hope this financing will help improve the treatment and quality of life of people with these illnesses."
The loan covers about half of the company's investment into the development of innovative treatments for these diseases. Over the next four years, Transgene plans to perform clinical trials of a therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B, a main cause and risk factor for developing liver cancer, as well as of targeted immunotherapy for the treatment of human papillomavirus-induced cancer. Furthermore, the company is working to develop a compound to address tuberculosis and bring it to the clinical development stage, which would then be funded under InnovFin ID.
The deal is the second one signed under InnovFin ID, a debt instrument developed under the EU's research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020. It supports access to finance for high-risk projects in the area of infectious diseases, in particular where successful development and commercialisation of a compound, drug or medical device is very challenging and requires support.
Background
InnovFin Infectious Diseases enables the EIB to provide between €7.5 million and €75 million to innovative companies active in developing vaccines, drugs, medical and diagnostic devices, and research infrastructures for combatting infectious diseases. Financing is aimed at projects that have passed the pre-clinical stage and for which clinical validation is needed for further development.
Under Horizon 2020, the EU research programme for 2014-2020, the European Commission and the EIB Group (EIB and EIF) have launched a new generation of financial products and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovatorsoffers a range of tailored products which will make more than €24 billion of financing support for research and innovation (R&I) available to small, medium and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures. This finance is expected to support up to €48 billion of final research and innovation investments.
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