Advicenne (Euronext Paris & Brussels: ADVIC - FR0013296746), a specialty pharmaceutical company developing and marketing therapeutic products for the treatment of orphan diseases, announced today that it has signed a EUR 20m loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union (EU) bank, under the Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan.
This loan will support Advicenne's new strategic developments relating to Research & Development (R&D), in particular to expand its portfolio of innovative drugs for orphan diseases. The finance agreement was signed by EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle and Advicenne’s Deputy CEO Paul MICHALET.
This non-dilutive financing provided by the EIB is backed by the EU guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is at the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, also known as the "Juncker Plan". Its objective is to support research and innovation projects developed by companies with high growth potential. Advicenne meets these criteria as the treatments developed by the company address an acute medical need for patients, especially children, suffering from rare diseases. For instance, ADV7103, the company's flagship drug candidate, is intended for the treatment of distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA), a renal disease which, if not correctly treated, can lead to serious complications.
Given Advicenne's current cash position, this financing, structured in three tranches of EUR 7.5m, EUR 5m and EUR 7.5m respectively, will make it possible to consolidate the company's financial visibility while enabling it to pursue its clinical research activities for dRTA and cystinuria. From today, the company will be able to draw down the first tranche, which has not yet been deployed.
EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said, "An excellent example, once again, of the EU EFSI project, which allocates funds to causes that need support the most. Improving access to medicines for children with rare diseases is essential, but not without difficulty. This funding at EU level will go a long way towards helping companies with expertise to develop R&D in this field, and thus provide innovative and accessible solutions to meet this challenge.”
“This financing operation for Advicenne once again confirms the great success of the Juncker Plan. Given its activity dedicated to rare diseases, Advicenne is an emblematic company in the biotechnology sector in France, which combines innovation and risk limitation,” explained EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle.
Advicenne's Deputy CEO Paul Michalet added, “This efficient non-dilutive facility, which is in line with our financing strategy, enables us to continue our industrial and commercial development, while accelerating the build-up of our pipeline of products for orphan diseases in strict compliance with our financial visibility policy for the company. This facility put in place by the EU is a factor in accelerating the creation of value for our shareholders.”
Advicenne’s CEO Dr Luc-André Granier concluded, “I would like to thank all those involved in the conclusion of this finance agreement, which will allow us to fully deploy our unique expertise in the treatment of rare diseases for patients of all ages, and particularly children, who are the most vulnerable. We have already demonstrated our ability to develop and market moderate-sedation drugs with ADV6209 (Ozalin®) and we are about to repeat this success with our leading product, ADV7103, for dRTA. With these additional financial resources, I am confident that we will be able to offer new effective and well-tolerated treatments to patients suffering from pathologies without a satisfactory therapeutic solution”