The European Investment Bank (EIB) and ExeVir BIO have signed a €25 million venture debt financing agreement to advance the development of ExeVir’s novel COVID-19 therapeutic.
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The financing is part of the EIB’s COVID-19 response and is backed by the InnovFin Infectious Diseases Finance Facility (IDFF) under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s research and innovation programme.
ExeVir is harnessing its llama-derived antibody (VHH) technology platform to generate multi-specific antibodies for prophylaxis and treatment of infectious diseases. The EIB financing will help advance ExeVir’s lead asset, XVR012, into clinical trials for COVID-19.
In addition to bringing this product to the market in the coming years, ExeVir intends to expand its pipeline to other infectious diseases as part of its pandemic preparedness strategy.
The EIB financing will thus be of a high added value to ExeVir as it will provide stable, long-term and non-dilutive capital to support ExeVir’s R&D activities and clinical development.
The company’s initial focus is on prevention of COVID-19 for immunocompromised patient populations (approximately 3% of the general Western population) with a high unmet need due to the limitations of current vaccines and therapeutic approaches.
This investment will undoubtedly strengthen Belgium’s and the European Union’s position in the innovative COVID-19 therapeutics market as well as in pandemic preparedness.
ExeVir’s lead asset, XVR012, is a potent COVID-19 neutralising antibody that targets the S1 and S2 regions of the coronavirus. Both are highly conserved regions in the virus, meaning it is less likely to mutate into an escape variant.
ExeVir has demonstrated it can progress its candidates from research to the clinic in under one year, execute on Phase 1a and Phase 1b studies and conduct scale-up manufacturing. Leveraging this past experience, its XVR012 asset is being developed for regulatory submission in 2023.
VHHs can be linked together like building blocks into a single molecule to tackle different epitopes or act through different mechanisms of actions all at once in order to address the “arms race†in more complex and co-evolving infectious diseases.
VHHs are smaller in size than whole antibodies, giving them access to hidden epitopes that traditional monoclonal antibodies are unable to reach with potential for deeper tissue penetration and simpler, more cost-effective manufacturing.
ExeVir has initiated research in dengue, a migrating disease becoming an increasing global health burden due to global warming and urbanisation.
ExeVir is a spinout of VIB, the leading Belgium-based life sciences research institute. ■