Crossject is awarded a 6.9 million euros financing from the French Government, as part of the France 2030 innovation plan, to accelerate the development of ZENEO® Epinephrine

  • Key contribution to the acceleration of the development of ZENEO® Epinephrine
  • Financial support includes mainly grants, as well as subsidized loans
  • France 2030 Plan dedicated to supporting French companies demonstrating outstanding growth and innovation potential

page1image1034218000 

Dijon, France, July 10th, 2024 07:30 CET — Crossject (ISIN: FR0011716265; Euronext: ALCJ), a specialty pharma company in advanced phases of development and registration for ZEPIZURE®, its emergency treatment for the management of epileptic crises based on its award-winning needle-free auto-injector ZENEO®, announces that it has been awarded €6.9 million in public funding as part of the “i-Démo” call for projects under the France 2030 Plan, operated by Bpifrance on behalf of the French Government.

The France 2030 plan aims at supporting French companies that demonstrate exceptional potential for growth and innovation. It will support Crossject’s innovative project to accelerate the development of its ZENEO® Epinephrine (1) needle-free autoinjector, and save lives thanks to this new emergency treatment administered by a patient or its family in the event of severe allergic reactions (anaphylactic shock).

The project, which runs until 2026, consists of subsidies for 60% of the total, and of subsidized loans for the remainder, with an initial payment of 1.7 million euros scheduled in the coming weeks, a development milestone of 4 million euros expected in August 2025 and the balance at the end of the project in 2026. The product is expected to generate cumulative sales of around 1 billion euros by 2032 for Crossject and its distributors, contribute to the creation of more than 160 jobs over the period 2024-2032, and support Crossject’s actions to reduce the carbon footprint of ZENEO® Epinephrine. The project was also certified by the French cluster PMT.

The drug solution in ZENEO® Epinephrine is innovative and patented by Crossject (FR3095122B1, WO2020212381A1). Importantly, it relies on a proprietary sulfite-free formulation. Sulfites are used as preservatives in many current products and are known to trigger intolerance, or even allergy, which can lead to an anaphylactic shock, the very event that needs to be treated. Moreover, Crossject’s new solution shows superior shelf-life performance and should enable a longer stability period compared to current drugs. The formulation developed by Crossject should hence not only reassure patients about the risk of drug-related allergy, but also meet their strong need for a simpler device that can be kept for longer.

In addition, the ZENEO® auto-injector ensures a simple, complete injection of the entire dose in just a few milliseconds, with negligible residual volume. This should be a significant advantage over needle- based systems on the market.

Patrick Alexandre, CEO of Crossject, declared: « We are honoured to be supported by the France 2030 innovation Plan. It bears witness to the innovative nature of our know-how and the impact that our innovations can have on healthcare. I would like to thank the French Government for its confidence, which reinforces the strategic dimension and promise of our needle-free injection technology. This financing will enable us to accelerate our research and development efforts to bring ZENEO Epinephrine® to market and save lives in the field of anaphylactic shock. »

(1) Epinephrine is known as adrénaline in Europe

Read the full press release