Biosimilars will have their Polish guarantor. Polpharma, the largest Polish producer of medicines, is the first benefactor of a €45M loan granted by the European Investment Bank. The loan was granted for research and development of biosimilars and is part of InnovFin, the EU fund for innovators.
The production of biosimilars involves numerous difficulties in several steps of the production process: a multi-stage research, optimization of the manufacturing process using unique cell lines and large scale clinical studies proving the therapeutic equivalence to the original biological drugs. For projects of this risk profile, the long-term loans provided by the European Investment Bank are especially attractive.
The development of new therapies is one of the most costly and uncertain areas of knowledge creation, which Polpharma is well aware of. The company is an innovation leader in its country, with its laboratory in Gdansk Science and Technology Park, the most modern workplaces in Poland for the development of biological drugs. Polpharma is the perfect dance partner for InnovFin, which aims to finance risky projects carried out by companies in the European Union.
In the past five years the European Investment Bank has provided loans of nearly €10Bn for investment in health care. The Bank promotes projects in this field, by both supporting the modernization of hospitals and medical centers, as well as by funding research in medical technology, biotech and pharma. Such projects contribute to strengthening competitiveness and boosting the innovative capacity of the European industry in the health sector.