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.”
