On Wednesday, Poland-based Ryvu Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule drugs to treat cancer, received 22 million euros from The European Investment Bank (EIB).
The European Investment Plan is providing the money through their venture debt instrument. This funding is for businesses that are growing very fast, and needs to be used in a specific way.
Fund usage
Ryvu Therapeutics plans to use the funds to further develop their most important project, RVU120, as well as new treatments for solid tumors and severe blood cancers.
The company will also invest in making older cancer medications more effective, and providing people who have cancer with treatments for both solid and blood cancers.
Ryvu Therapeutics is one of the leading employers of highly educated biotech researchers in Poland. The company will use the funds to support R&D activities and create new jobs, contributing to economic growth in the area.
Pawel Przewiezlikowski started Ryvu Therapeutics in 2007. The clinical-stage drug development company works on developing new small molecule drugs for cancer targets that are emerging.
The company uses knowledge of cancer biology to create different therapies, such as immuno-oncology targets, synthetics lethality, and small molecules targeting kinase.
Ryvu has two advanced programs: RVU120, a selective CDK8/CDK19 kinase inhibitor that could be used to treat solid tumors and blood cancers. It is in phase I trials to treat myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia, and in phase I/II trials to treat more advanced or metastatic solid tumor diagnoses. The other program is SEL24 (MEN1703), licensed to the Menarini Group, and in phase II trials for the treatment of myeloid leukemia.
Ryvu is a company that is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The company has signed ten partnering and licensing agreements with global companies like Merck, Menarini Group, Galapagos, and Exelixis.
Ryvu is a company that develops new medicines, and recently received funding from the European Investment Bank. Pawel Przewiezlikowski is the CEO and founder of Ryvu, and he explains that the funding will be used to continue developing Ryvu’s oncology pipeline, including a drug called RVU120, which is in clinical trials for the treatment of both hematologic and solid cancers.
EIB
The European Investment Bank is owned by the different European Union Member States, and provides long-term funding for sound investments that will support the EU goals. The bank focuses on four areas: innovation, climate and environment, small and medium sized businesses, and infrastructure.
In 2021, the EIB Group is going to contribute 6.5 billion dollars to Polish projects. About 1.5 billion of this money will go to initiatives related to innovation, research, digital improvement, and human capital development.
The European Investment Plan, or InvestEU program, has replaced the original Investment Plan for Europe. Despite this, many projects that were approved under the original plan can still be signed. One of the main components of the European Investment Plan is the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The EFSI provides first-loss guarantees to the European Investment Bank Group, which allows them to fund more risky projects. Over 1,400 small businesses have been beneficiaries of investments totaling €524.3 billion in projects and agreements approved by the EFSI.
