EIB supports AB Science in its COVID-19 development programme
The European Investment Bank has agreed a €15 million loan to French pharmaceutical company AB Science to fund the clinical development programme evaluating masitinib as a treatment for COVID-19.
The loan consists of two tranches of €6 million each, and a third tranche worth €3 million. The first tranche is expected to be released in the coming weeks. The remaining two tranches will be made available at a later stage, subject to certain milestones, including clinical progress in AB Science’s study regarding the treatment of COVID-19 and the company’s future equity funding.
Masitinib might be an effective treatment for COVID-19 due to its recently discovered dual mechanism allowing it to act as both an anti-inflammatory and an antiviral agent. Masitinib directly inhibits the 3CL protease, the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 directly involved in the replication of the virus.
The COVID-19 loan is supplemented by an agreement to issue warrants for the EIB. The number of warrants to be issued by AB Science each time a tranche of the COVID-19 loan is drawn will depend on its reference price prior to the disbursement and the amount of the tranche in question.
