On 27 November 2020, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and AB Science signed a EUR 15 million (approx. USD 17.9 million) loan to support the company’s clinical development programme for a COVID-19 treatment option.  

Particularly, the fostered treatment is “masitinib”, a substance that has developed as a credible candidate for treating COVID-19 for which no therapeutic solutions are yet available. The loan will enable AB Science to fill this void and develop a clinical programme for evaluating “masitinib” as a COVID-19 treatment option. 

Importantly, the support was approved under the InnovFin Infectious Diseases Finance Facility, a joint European Commission and EIB Group initiative of the 2014-2020 EU research and innovation programme also known as Horizon 2020.

In this context, EIB Vice-President, Ambroise Fayolle, highlighted that “the fight against COVID-19 is a priority for the European Union’s bank, which is why we support the development of therapeutic options that could provide an effective response to the health crisis”.

AB Science is a French pharmaceutical company founded in 2001. According to the press release, it specializes in R+D and commercialization of protein kinase inhibitors.

A state act in the GTA database is assessed solely in terms of the extent to which its implementation affects foreign commercial interests. On this metric, the investment support granted here is discriminatory.