Poland based Ryvu Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule therapies to address clinical limitations of current oncology treatments, announced on Wednesday that it had received €22M from The European Investment Bank (EIB).
The investment is being made available through the EIB’s venture debt instrument, which is designed to meet the specific financing needs of high-growth “innovative” businesses. The funding is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, which is part of the European Investment Plan.
Fund usage
Ryvu Therapeutics says the funds will be used to accelerate the development of new therapies to treat severe blood cancers and solid tumours, including further clinical development of the company’s flagship project, RVU120.
Furthermore, the company will invest in overcoming the clinical limitations of existing oncology medications and providing patients with access to treatments for solid and haematologic tumours.
Ryvu Therapeutics claims to be one of Poland’s leading employers of highly qualified biotech researchers. The funds will be used to support R&D activities and the creation of new highly skilled jobs, thereby stimulating economic growth in the region.
Ryvu Therapeutics, founded in 2007 by Pawel Przewiezlikowski, is a clinical-stage drug discovery and development company focused on novel small molecule therapies that address emerging oncology targets.
Internally discovered pipeline candidates, according to the company, use a variety of therapeutic mechanisms driven by knowledge of cancer biology, such as small molecules directed at kinase, synthetic lethality, and immuno-oncology targets.
One of Ryvu’s advanced programmes is RVU120, a selective CDK8/CDK19 kinase inhibitor with potential for the treatment of haematological malignancies and solid tumours. It is currently in phase I clinical development for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, as well as phase I/II clinical development for the treatment of r/r metastatic or advanced solid tumours. The other is SEL24 (MEN1703), a Menarini Group-licensed dual PIM/FLT3 kinase inhibitor currently in phase II clinical trials in acute myeloid leukaemia.
In addition, the company has signed ten partnering and licencing agreements with global companies such as Merck, Menarini Group, Galapagos, and Exelixis. Ryvu is a company that is currently listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Pawel Przewiezlikowski, CEO and founder of Ryvu, says, “We are pleased to receive funding from the EIB, which plays such an instrumental role in providing financial support to innovation-driven companies like Ryvu that seek to develop new and potentially life-saving medicines. This funding will help Ryvu continue to advance our clinical-stage oncology pipeline, including RVU120 in clinical development for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumours, as well as earlier stage projects.”
EIB
The EIB is the EU’s long-term financing organisation, and its Member States own it. It provides long-term funding for sound investments that support EU policy goals. The bank’s four top priority areas for project funding are infrastructure, innovation, climate and environment, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The EIB Group will contribute €6.5B to Polish projects in 2021. A portion of this funding, approximately €1.5B, went to initiatives focused on innovation, research, digital transformation, and human capital development.
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the foundation of the European Investment Plan. It provides first-loss guarantees, allowing the EIB Group to fund more risky projects. More than 1.4M SMEs have benefited from investments totaling €524.3B in EFSI-approved projects and agreements. Despite the fact that the InvestEU programme has taken the place of the Investment Plan for Europe, several previously approved operations can still be signed.
