France’s nanomedicine specialist Nanobiotix has secured €40m from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to fund its research.
The funding will be spread out over the next five years, comes in a form of a loan, which is subject to the company hitting performance criteria milestones.
The new financing will fund the company’s research, development and innovation efforts in oncology, and has the advantage of being non-dilutive to its shareholding.
Philippe Mauberna, chief financial officer of Nanobiotix, said: “This loan will significantly enhance our financial visibility without diluting our shareholders in the medium term.
“This new partnership is another value recognition of the product the company wants to bring to market to help millions of cancer patients.”
The company’s lead candidate is NBTXR3 ,a first-in-class product with a new mode of action physically destroying cancer cells when activated by radiation therapy. Once activated in the body by radiotherapy, the nanomedicine works to directly destroy tumours and activate the immune system for both local control and systemic disease treatment.
The candidate just hit its primary endpoint in a Phase II/III trial in soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
Twice as many patients (16.1% vs 7.9%) achieved a pathological Complete Response (pCR) with NBTXR3 compared to the control arm (p = 0.0448). The company is now confident this significant difference validates the superiority of the treatment with NBTXR3 versus radiation alone. A pathological Complete Response Rate (pCRR) is defined as the rate of patients showing less than 5% of residual viable cancer cells in the tumour post treatment.
Nanobiotix believes the therapy, which is injected directly into the tumour before a patient’s first radiotherapy session, could be applied to most solid tumours.
The extra funding will go towards trials of NBTXR3 in the head and neck cancer indication.
If approved in this particular setting, the group says it will launch in European markets and the fund will also support this goal.
Commenting on the EIB investment, European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: “Cancer is the second-highest cause of death in the EU and with Europe’s ageing population, fighting cancer will undoubtedly remain a priority in the years to come.
“We need to have innovative and dedicated research to always be in search of new treatments. Nanoparticle based cancer treatment research funding is one example of how serious we are in fighting cancer, with the significant support from the EIB to finance research and innovation.”
The financing agreement was made possible by the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), an organisation that supports the Investment Plan for Europe.
Also known as The Junker Plan, this strategy was set out by the EIB Group and the European Commission, which acts as strategic partners to strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy.
Ambroise Fayolle, EIB’s vice president, said: “This project is a great fit with the Juncker Plan and is very important for European innovation.
“Innovation, and support for innovative companies, is what the EU guarantee under the Investment Plan for Europe is about, and financing research into cancer treatment is one of the most rewarding things a Bank can do.”