Good news for Inventiva: the Burgundian company has just obtained funding of 348 million euros on Monday October 14. “She also signs one of the largest fundraisings recorded by a biotech company specializing in the development of drugs in France,” underline our colleagues at World.
Short of money, this young company founded in 2012 – which hires 115 employees – was going through a difficult period and feared a disaster scenario in recent months. A dark period which is now slipping behind her. While the fundraising was carried out with American investors specializing in life sciences, the small French biotech listed on the stock exchange (both in Europe and the United States) will have been forced to fight to obtain the financing. . “I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a miracle, but it was extremely difficult. Then one day, we managed to convince two big names in venture capital and everything changed,” rewinds to the World Frédéric Cren, co-founder and CEO of Inventiva.
“The proceeds of the financing will be mainly used to carry out the phase 3 clinical trial, NATiV3, evaluating lanifibranor in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (MASH),” indicates the biotech in its press release. Lanifirabnor is an orally administered molecule that has been shown to be effective in the treatment of patients with what is commonly called “non-alcoholic fatty liver.”
16.7% of the population has non-alcoholic steatosis
This disease “is characterized by an accumulation of fats in the liver, apart from any excessive consumption of alcohol”, reports the site Ameli. A pathology quite present in France which mainly affects people suffering from overweight, obesity or diabetes. In fact, a study repeated on the site ameli.frdated 2019, shows that 16.7% of the population included presents non-alcoholic steatosis: 24.6% of men and 10.1% of women. It concerns 79.7% of obese people and 63% of diabetics.
And according to the French National Society of Gastroenterology, “projections estimate that this number will more than double by 2030, and that complications of cirrhosis as well as hepatocellular carcinomas linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease will triple on this horizon. While the number of patients affected by the disease continues to increase, lanifibranor, which allows, among other things, to reduce fat in the liver, could be a good opportunity for the Dijon biotech. Especially since the therapeutic solutions in this area are slim. Note that Inventiva has already entered into a partnership with the Chinese Sino Biopharm in order to market its future drug in China, again according to our colleagues at World.
“Its effects on insulin sensitivity and direct anti-fibrotic make lanifibranor an ideal therapy for the majority of the population of type 2 diabetic patients suffering from advanced fibrosis due to MASH, patients most at risk of progression to liver failure”, details Mark Pruzanski, still on the sitechairman of the board of directors. So far, Inventiva has secured €94.1 million as part of the multi-tranche financing of €348 million, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions. To be continued.