PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gecko Biomedical (“Gecko”), a French medical device company developing innovative polymers to support tissue healing, announces today that it has received an interest-free loan of 1.4 million euros from Bpifrance to advance its bio-inspired surgical adhesive solutions.
These funds will be dedicated to supporting Gecko Biomedical clinical trials in Europe in order to obtain CE Mark in the first half of 2017.
The funds are part of Bpifrance’s support of innovation through its interest-free loan program (Prêt à Taux Zéro pour l’Innovation -PTZI), providing repayable advances to encourage the development of innovative products.
Christophe Bancel, Gecko Biomedical’s Chief Executive Officer, said “Bpifrance’s continuous support not only provides us with financial stability towards our future, but also is a testimony of the value of our biopolymers platform. As such, Bpifrance is a central stakeholder to our short, medium and long-term development.”
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About Gecko
Gecko Biomedical is a privately owned medical
device company based in Paris, France that is dedicated to the rapid
development and commercialization of a unique biopolymers platform.
Gecko’s first product (GB-02) is an innovative polymer for tissue
healing, targeting cardiovascular reconstruction as an initial
indication. The structure of GB-02 is tunable, allowing customization
for various applications and tissues. Gecko’s biopolymers platform is
fully industrialized and highly versatile, with potential novel
applications in other fields of tissue reconstruction, such as guided
tissue repair and localized drug delivery.
Gecko’s platform is
based on proprietary biopolymers with unique chemical and physical
properties, including high viscosity, hydrophobicity and fast “on
demand” curing for precise local delivery and in situ adhesion. The
Company’s technologies are derived from world-class research and
intellectual property from the laboratories of Pr Robert Langer (MIT)
and Pr Jeff Karp (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), who co-founded the
company in 2013, alongside Christophe Bancel and Bernard Gilly from the
iBionext Network.
For more information, please visit www.geckobiomedical.com
and follow @geckobiomedical
About Bpifrance
Bpifrance, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts
and the French State, is a trusted partner of entrepreneurs which
provides companies with credit, collateral and equity financing support
from start up through to stock exchange listing. Bpifrance also provides
guidance services and enhanced support for innovation, external growth
and export, in partnership with Business France and Coface.
Bpifrance
offers companies a continuum of financing for each key stage of their
development and an offer adapted to specific regional features. With 42
regional offices (90% of decisions are made regionally), Bpifrance
offers entrepreneurs a tool for economic competitiveness. Bpifrance
works in support of the public policies pursued nationally and
regionally by the French government, to meet three objectives:
- support the growth of businesses;
- prepare for future competitiveness;
- contribute to the development of a favorable ecosystem for entrepreneurship.
With Bpifrance, companies have a strong and effective local contact to
meet all their financial, innovation and investment needs.
For more
information, please visit: www.bpifrance.fr
– http://investissementsdavenir.bpifrance.fr/
– Twitter: @bpifrance
