The loan is granted to support development of AM-Pharma’s Recombinant Optimized Human Alkaline Phosphatase as a treatment for Acute Kidney Injury, a medical condition responsible for the death of approximately seven hundred thousand people per year in the western world.
SenterNovem has provided the loan to AM-Pharma under the recently implemented InnovatieKrediet scheme. AM-Pharma is the first Dutch biotechnology company to benefit from this new facility. An initial amount of €2.25m has been committed for product manufacturing and will be paid out in advance of a number of agreed development milestones. A further €2.75m for subsequent clinical development up to Phase II Proof of Concept can be requested by AM-Pharma in 2010. This interest bearing loan will have to be repaid only after successful development of the product.
Bart Wuurman, CEO commented: “I am very proud that AM-Pharma is the first Dutch biotech company to benefit from this scheme. This type of financing is important to us as it will further strengthen the funding of our company. We also see this loan as recognition of the high medical importance of the drug we are developing against Acute Kidney Injury.”
About AM-Pharma www.am-pharma.com
AM-Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the preclinical and clinical development of novel compounds in the field of severe inflammatory diseases. Its products are based on optimized endogenous proteins which combat disease using physiological defence mechanisms.
AM-Pharma has used Alkaline Phosphatase extracted from cow’s intestines to show that Alkaline Phosphatase has a beneficial effect on Acute Kidney Injury and on severe Ulcerative Colitis. After these positive results with this experimental bovine material, Recombinant Optimized Human Alkaline Phosphatase is now being manufactured for further development and commercialization.
AM-Pharma is based in Bunnik, The Netherlands with a staff of 9. The company is financed by Forbion Capital Partners and Inventages Venture Capital. Once product safety and efficacy have been established with Recombinant Optimized Human Alkaline Phosphatase in Phase II trials, AM-Pharma intends to out-license its products to partners for further development and world wide marketing.
About Acute Kidney Injury
Hospital-acquired Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) occurs in as many as 4% of hospital admissions and 20% of critical care admissions. The incidence is increasing because of an aging population, the increasing exposure to nephrotoxic drugs in hospitals, and increasing number of surgical interventions. Depending on the severity of renal failure, the mortality rate ranges from 7% to as high as 80%. Annually around 700,000 patients die of Acute Kidney Injury in Europe, US and Japan. Currently the only treatment options are dialysis and kidney replacement. No drugs are approved to treat this condition.
About SenterNovem and the InnovatieKrediet scheme www.senternovem.nl/innovatiekrediet
The InnovatieKrediet is a risk bearing loan intended to finance commercially attractive development projects with high risk. The supported projects are aimed at development of new products, processes or services. The InnovatieKrediet scheme reduces the financial risk to the entrepreneur. Should the project fail, repayment of the loan is waived. The loan has separate budgets for technical development and clinical development.
