EIB, Newron Pharma sign €40m loan deal

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Newron Pharmaceuticals have signed a financing agreement allowing the company to borrow up to €40m over the coming years.

Newron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for patients with diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system (CNS),

“Neurological disorders affect up to one billion people worldwide. In Europe alone, the annual economic cost of neurological diseases was estimated at about €139bn in 2004”, said EIB vice-president Ambroise Fayolle.

“Many patients with CNS diseases are in need of new or more efficacious therapeutics. The EU bank provides long-term and stable capital support to help drive innovation and clinical success in this field. It’s this type of support for innovative companies like Newron that is crucial to strengthening Europe’s competitiveness.”

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis said: "Sustained investment in research and innovation for treatment of neurological disorders is critical. This new agreement provides further evidence of the EU added value of the investment plan, not only for the competitiveness of the EU economy, but above all for the citizens' wellbeing."

The EIB said Newron aims to build a CNS company that searches, develops and commercializes innovative drugs, with a special focus on rare diseases.

The company’s first product developed in-house, Xadago (safinamide), is the first new ehemical Entity in a decade approved in Europe and the US for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease . The product is commercialized in a number of European markets as well as in the USA and the Company’s partners Zambon and Meiji Seika Pharma are working towards global approval, the EIB said.