French biotech Nanobiotix has received a second €14m tranche from a European Investment Bank (EIB) loan, triggered by meeting two development objectives.
The payment is part of a €40m financing vehicle agreed with the EIB last July that is designed to provide Nanobiotix with cash to advance its cancer pipeline and is tied to the achievement of various clinical milestones. The cash is earmarked for the development and commercialisation of lead drug NBTXR3 in head and neck cancer in Europe.
The latest release of cash comes on the back of Nanobiotix completing a phase 1 trial of NBTXR3 in head and neck cancer and selecting the recommended dose for future testing, as well as an independent assessment of the clinical benefit/risk ratio for NBTXR3 in a phase 3 programme in soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
“This financing will allow us to advance our global development plan and continue the development of NBTXR3, a product candidate that could potentially benefit millions of patients,” said Nanobiotix’ chief financial officer Philippe Mauberna (pictured below).
NBTXR3 takes the form of crystalline nanoparticles that are designed to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy given to reduce tumour burden before surgery. Injecting the nanoparticles into the cancer prior to external beam radiation therapy is designed to ramp up the antitumor effect. Nanobiotix believes the therapy could be applied to most solid tumours.
Nanobiotix’ stock has been riding high in the last few months after reporting that a phase 2/3 trial of NBTXR3 in STS patients met its primary endpoint last June, with 16% of subjects on the drug achieving a pathological complete response – which means tumours had 5% or less viable cancer cells after surgical removal.
That was twice the 8% rate seen in the control arm, but only scraped under the threshold bar for statistical significance, so the independent assessment is encouraging for the future prospects of the programme.
Nanobiotix has previously received €16m from the EIB and can draw on the final €10m by July 2020.
NBTXR3 has already been filed for approval in Europe under the CE mark pathway for medical devices, and if approved could achieve peak sales of around $175m in that indication, according to research published last year by analysts at Jefferies.
Head and neck cancer is more common that STS so could contribute another $500m or so per year, and extending beyond those solid tumours could elevate NBTXR3 to blockbuster status, they suggested.