NEW YORK – OpGen said Thursday that its subsidiary Curetis will have access to an additional €5 million ($5.65 million) debt financing tranche that it plans to use for research and development activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debt financing facility was originally placed in 2016 and amended in 2019, and the additional €5 million will be used to co-fund R&D programs related to COVID-19 across "several of the platforms and the entire product portfolio" of Curetis and Ares Genetics, another subsidiary of OpGen, the company said in a statement.
Curetis can draw down the additional tranche within nine months. It will have a five-year term to maturity where interest payments during the term are compounded and payable once the principal amount of the tranche has matured.
OpGen CEO and Curetis Managing Director Oliver Schacht said the funding will allow continued development of the Unyvero A50 and A30 RQ platforms, with particular focus on how they can be applied to COVID-19.