| Project Detail |
Quasi-equity financing to Diadem, an Italian biotechnology company developing prognostic testing for early detection of Alzheimers disease.
Additionality and Impact
The project concerns an operation under the European Guarantee Fund. The purpose of the loan is to provide direct, equity-type financing under EIBs Venture Debt Instrument to support Research, Development and Innovation ("RDI") activities of the innovative company Diadem, an SME based in Italy, which has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The financing of this project addresses the failure in financial markets for RDI, arising from limited access to commensurate financing as a result of factors such as information asymmetries, misalignment of incentives, etc. The Promoter is a dedicated medical technology company developing innovative solutions for the early prediction and diagnosis of Alzheimers disease, with the aim of potentially enabling early interventions to slow disease progression. The project targets an unmet need with high socio-economic impact. By creating knowledge externalities, the project will provide significant socio-economic benefits, will strengthen Italy and Europes leading position in medical technologies, and it will help to retain skilled staff engaged in the Companys RDI activities.
EIBs financing would be complementary to European venture capital ("VC") investors and would provide a signalling effect to crowd-in other capital providers, which are necessary for the completion of the clinical development stage and the launch of commercial operations. Hence, thanks to EIBs involvement, this project will not be significantly delayed due to the crisis.
Objectives
The proposed transaction will support research and development (R&D) investments to address a high-unmet medical need in the fields of prediction and diagnosis of Alzheimers Disease (AD), a disease that has a high economic and social burden globally. Diadems technology is offering the unique possibility to detect AD at an early stage or even predict AD in asymptomatic patients, which may provide the great opportunity to start preventive therapies with disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) and/or non-pharmaceutical interventions that may change the progression of the disease. The project supports ongoing R&D activities conducted by the Promoter and its network of partners, which encompasses universities, research institutes and other private companies (suppliers, etc.). It represents a rational allocation of resources. Furthermore, this project sustains the Promoters long-term growth through the development of innovative diagnostic tools. |
