What the EIB InnovFin award means for Cavidi and HIV management
September 16, 2015 Speaking on behalf of the entire Cavidi team, we are honored to be chosen by the European Investment Bank (EIB) as recipient of their Infectious Diseases Innovation Loan for 2015. This €10 million award will provide a substantial portion of the investment required to bring Ziva™ to market in 2016. Just as importantly, it underscores the importance of the groundbreaking work Cavidi is doing in the area of HIV management.
Viral load monitoring is an essential part of HIV treatment, but it has always been difficult to administer in near-patient settings. Ziva™ changes that. Building off of Cavidi’s proprietary Reverse Transcriptase (RT) technology, we have designed Ziva™ as a medium throughput, fully-automated viral load monitoring system. It is purpose-built to meet the requirements of decentralized labs like those in district hospitals. When it reaches the market, Ziva™ will be a game changer, making routine viral load testing accessible to millions of people around the globe.
In providing the loan, the EIB recognized the importance of viral load testing and the groundbreaking work Cavidi has been doing in the treatment of HIV. The EIB is the European Union's bank. They are the only bank owned by and representing the interests of the European Union Member States. The bank makes long-term financing available for sound investments in order to contribute toward EU policy goals. As part of that aim, the EIB has set up a program to help innovative firms access financing more easily. Over the next seven years, "InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" will make more than €24 billion EUR of financial support available for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium-sized, and large companies.
Thank you to all those involved with InnovFin at EIB. And, thank you to my team at Cavidi for once again making history in the area of HIV diagnostics.
