NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Mobidiag announced today it has secured a four-year growth capital loan for €25 million ($28 million) from the European Investment Bank which will be used to expand the assay menu on its automated molecular diagnostic instruments.
EIB had previously supported Mobidiag with €15M financing project. The loan enabled Mobidiag to successfully achieve a number of operational milestones in the development, validation, and launch of the Novodiag 'sample-in, result-out' diagnostic solution, the company said in a statement.
The new loan will allow the Espoo, Finland-based company to advance its research and development to facilitate validation and commercialization of molecular diagnostics tests on the company's Amplidiag and Novodiag platforms.
The loan is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, through the European Growth Finance Facility initiative.
"This loan will allow us to accelerate the development of the Mobidiag platform content to the next level, and build significant value over the coming years by building a comprehensive portfolio of diagnostics tests that can be used on our devices," Mobidiag CEO Tuomas Tenkanen said in a statement.
The current menu on the Amplidiag focuses on infectious disease pathogens and resistance markers in stool samples, such as Clostridium difficile, Helicobacter pylori, carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci, as well as small panel tests for viral gastroenteritis, bacterial gastroenteritis, and gastrointestinal parasites. The Novodiag system has tests for C. diff, a panel of 14 bacterial causes of gastroenteritis, and a panel of 10 carbapenemase and colistin resistance genes. The firm is reportedly developing Novodiag panels for stool parasites and meningitis as well as a direct-from-blood sepsis assay.
Vice President of EIB, Alexander Stubb, noted in a statement that "boosting the innovation capacity of a European life science business and helping to preserve relevant sectoral know-how in Europe is of major importance right now" and added that EIB has made a shift from supporting infrastructure towards supporting innovative companies, "and very noticeably so in Finland."