The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a EUR 25 million loan with Innocoll AG (Nasdaq: INNL), a specialty pharmaceutical company with late-stage development programmes targeting areas of significant unmet medical need. This is the first equity-risk transaction supported by “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators”, a new generation of financial products fostering R&D in Europe.
Innocoll specialises in the development and manufacturing of new pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices using its proprietary collagen technology. The company’s lead products, which are either already approved or in the last stages of development, focus on post-surgical pain relief, the treatment of diabetic foot infections and post-surgical adhesions. The EIB financing will support the development of these novel products, as well as the expansion of Innocoll’s manufacturing facility near Munich, Germany.
EIB Vice-President Wilhelm Molterer called Innocoll a highly innovative company: “Innocoll’s commitment to research and development is truly remarkable. The company concentrates most of its resources on R&D activities, currently dedicating multiple times its revenues to R&D. It is companies such as Innocoll that contribute significantly to Europe’s overall competitiveness in cutting-edge technologies. And it is exactly this kind of innovation that is supported by InnovFin, the joint EU-EIB initiative to promote the knowledge economy in Europe.”
Innocoll chief executive officer Tony Zook: “We are honoured to participate in the EU’s “Finance for Innovators” program. The EIB loan facility has provided us with an exceptional level of flexibility to continue to execute our strategy for this exciting growth phase of the company. The EUR 25 million loan enables us to accelerate our clinical trial programs for our lead pipeline products, XaraColl, Cogenzia and CollaGUARD. It will also be used to complete the expansion of our manufacturing and R&D facilities in Germany.”
Innocoll’s R&D project is supported by “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators” MidCap Growth Finance, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments. InnovFin is a new range of EIB Group products designed to facilitate access to finance for innovative businesses. InnovFin MidCap Growth Finance offers long-term senior, subordinated or mezzanine loans from EUR 7.5 to 25 million for innovative larger midcaps (up to 3000 employees), but also SMEs and small midcaps.
Background information:
Innocoll AG
Innocoll is a global, commercial-stage, specialty pharmaceutical company. The company develops and manufactures a range of pharmaceutical products and medical devices using its proprietary collagen-based technologies. The company’s late stage product pipeline is focused on addressing a number of large unmet medical needs, including: XaraColl® in Phase 3 development for the treatment of post-operative pain; Cogenzia® in Phase 3 for the adjuvant treatment of diabetic foot infections; and CollaGUARD®, a barrier for the prevention of post-surgical adhesions. Innocoll’s approved products include: CollaGUARD (Ex-US), Collatamp® G, Septocoll®, RegenePro®, Collieva®, CollaCare®, Collexa®, and Zorpreva™, which are sold through strategic partnerships with various partners including Takeda, Biomet, and EUSA Pharma. All of Innocoll’s products are made using Type 1 collagen and are manufactured in-house at the company’s facility in Saal, Germany.
For more information, please visit www.innocollinc.com.
CollaRx®, Collatamp®, CollaGUARD®, Collieva®, CollaCare®, Collexa®, Cogenzia® LidoColl®, LiquiColl®, and XaraColl® are registered trademarks, and CollaPress™, DermaSil™, Durieva™, and Zorpreva™ are trademarks of the company.
InnovFin financial products
Under Horizon 2020, the new EU research programme for 2014-20, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) have launched a new generation of financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Over the next seven years, "InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" will offer a range of tailored products which will make available more than EUR 24bn of financing support for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium-sized and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures. This finance is expected to support up to EUR 48bn of final R&I investments.
InnovFin builds on the success of the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility developed under the seventh EU framework programme for research and technological development (FP7), which financed 114 R&I projects to the tune of EUR 11.3bn and in addition provided loan guarantees worth over EUR 1.4bn.
Backed by funds set aside under Horizon 2020 and by the EIB Group, InnovFin financial products support R&I activities, which by their nature are riskier and harder to assess than traditional investments, and therefore often face difficulties in accessing finance. All are demand-driven instruments, with no prior allocations between sectors, countries or regions. Firms and other entities located in EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries will be eligible as final beneficiaries. These debt instruments will be complemented in the near future by a suite of equity instruments managed by the EIF.
InnovFin MidCap Growth Finance offers long term senior, subordinated loans or mezzanine loans, in order to improve access to finance mainly for innovative larger midcaps (up to 3000 employees), but also SMEs and small midcaps. Loans from EUR 7.5m to EUR 25m will be delivered directly by the EIB.