Inoviem Scientific, a contract research biotech (CRB), has secured funding of $693k from Cap Innov’Est, the French public investment bank Bpifrance and its own banks, as well as a $107k grant from Strasbourg Eurométropole. Inoviem has already received funding of more than $1.07 million in 2015, from Cap Innov’Est and Bpifrance.

With this new financing, the company has already invested part of the funding in fitting out six laboratories to expand and enhance the range of services offered. After receiving the ISO 9000:2015 certification in September 2016, Inoviem moved to the Bioparc 3 building on the Illkirch-Graffenstaden innovation park, south of Strasbourg, France. The new laboratory facilities have a surface area of 560 square meters, which is five times larger than its former premises.

Inoviem Scientific supplies pharmaceutical companies with key information on drug-target interaction to support decision-making along the value chain from drug discovery to post-marketing, including the pre-clinical and clinical stages of development.

Today, one of the main barriers in drug discovery and development is its high attrition rate, largely due to a lack of efficacy and unexpected side effects. While conventional technologies fail to take into account the natural environment in which molecular interactions occur, Inoviem’s approach is to reconnect technical analysis with physiological complexity. To meet this challenge the company offers their label free technologies, NPOT and PIMS, working on human tissue in clinical conditions.

“The confidence our partners have shown in our plans represents a real development opportunity for Inoviem Scientific. Our business continues to grow and we plan soon to hire four new staff members,” said Pierre Eftekhari, president and founder of Inoviem Scientific. “Inoviem is dedicated to predicting mechanism of action, efficacy and toxicity, and performing biomarker identification, to better manage the risks and speed up the development of compounds with benefits for public health.”

Frédéric Perraud, chief financial officer, Inoviem Scientific, said, “We have seen our revenue increase sharply. The first few months of 2017 confirmed this trend. Moving premises was vital to supporting our business growth and broadening our range of services while maintaining the high level of quality. Our expertise and powerful technology have already helped us win the loyalty of our customers.”

Inoviem Scientific also plans to allocate a part of the funding to developing its sales activities outside Europe. In addition, the company will offer a new range of services related to the NPOT technology.