Investment Plan for Europe: EIB Grants Loan of EUR 40m to Indivumed

LUXEMBOURG, January 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a loan of EUR 40m to Indivumed GmbH, a physician-led, integrated global oncology company providing high-content tumour data and an optimum quality biobank to third parties such as biopharmaceutical companies and research institutes. The EIB funding will allow Indivumed to develop and validate new assays biomarker for the Biobank business and technology platforms. In addition, the Company is aiming at building a unique 'Global Cancer Database Solution' which would support cancer researchers worldwide by providing access to data from cancer patients, as well as bioinformatic tools to better understand complex cancer data. The financing was made possible by the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). EFSI is the central pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, under which the EIB Group and the European Commission aim to act as strategic partners to boost the competitiveness of the European economy.

Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB responsible for Innovation, EFSI and Germany commented, "Indivumed has the potential to positively contribute to not only accelerating the rate of novel drug development but also increasing the success rates of drugs in their journey to marketing authorisation. Our financing demonstrates EIB´s strong commitment to supporting the growth of European biotechs and medtechs with high policy and health impacts." And he added: "The project has benefitted from the support of our Innovation Finance Advisory team, who identified Indivumed as a highly innovative venture in the cancer bio-banking market, and helped best prepare it for an EIB financing. This demonstrates the clear added value of the integrated approach, which the Investment Plan for Europe provides to companies in Europe in order to strengthen their competitiveness."

Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said, "Investments in health pay off. They help to increase the well-being of the entire population and of all individuals. The healthcare systems in many EU Member States have growing needs for investments in modern infrastructure, innovative technologies and new models of care. The investment in Indivumed shows that the EU Institutions are committed to assist Member States in doing just that. I am pleased that the EIB is signing this agreement today to help stakeholders in the health sector make more use of the Investment Plan for Europe for the benefit of our citizens."

"We are very proud to receive funding from EIB for our efforts to accelerate the development of personalized cancer therapies," says Hartmut Juhl, MD, Founder and CEO of Indivumed. "Now, we can fully utilize our global clinical network that allows us, since 2002, to collect tissues and clinical data from cancer patients under identical scientific standards worldwide. The EIB funding together with additional private investments will enable us to create a Global Cancer Database Solution that pools genetic and comprehensive phenomic data from European, North-American and Asian patients. Using an integrated IT-platform, cancer researchers will be able to better understand the complexity of cancer, develop and validate faster and more cost-efficient new drugs and diagnostics, which, taken together, will subsequently benefit cancer patients worldwide."

Background information 

About the EIB 

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

The EIB Venture Debt, a more recent product in EIB's portfolio launched under EFSI, provides finance for small, high-risk innovative projects undertaken by European companies. By committing sizeable amount of capital for medium and long term, it allows innovative companies to focus on growing their business. In addition, the EIB's venture debt provides a positive signaling effect to investors and has the potential to catalyze additional financing for the companies.

Innovation Finance Advisory of the EIB aims at helping innovative firms access finance more easily. The EIB Advisory is a joint EIB-European Commission initiative to assist eligible public and private counterparts to improve the bankability and investment-readiness of innovative projects that need substantial long-term investments. It consists of a qualified team of experienced finance professionals to guide innovative companies on elements such as business plan, funding structure and governance.

About Indivumed  

Indivumed, an ISO-certified global oncology research company based in Hamburg, Germany, has established the world's leading cancer database and biobank, retaining unique patterns of biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, and proteins as they existed in the human body. This cancer database makes multi-omics capabilities possible that will allow for characterization of samples and data such as whole genome gene expression analysis, expression analysis of cancer-relevant proteins, expression analysis of cancer-relevant phosphoproteins and bioinformatic solutions for integrating molecular, biological, and clinical information. Indivumed's products and services allow for in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms of a patient's cancer, addressing important demands in translational research and molecular diagnostics to support implementation of personalized health care.

About the Investment Plan for Europe 

The Investment Plan for Europe, the Juncker Plan, is one of the EU´s top priorities to boost investments and to create jobs and growth by making smarter use of existing and new financial resources. The EIB Group is playing a vital role in this investment drive. Through guarantees from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the EIB and the EIF are able to take on a higher share of project risk, encouraging private finance providers to participate in the projects. In addition, EFSI is accompanied by a new advisory service, the European Investment Advisory Hub, which enables public and private project operators to structure their investment projects more professionally. The investment offensive also aims to make the regulatory environment in the EU more conducive to investment, especially in the digital, energy and capital market sectors. The European Parliament and Member States have agreed in December 2017 to extend EFSI's duration and increase its financial capacity.

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Indivumed:
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http://www.indivumed.com