Bavarian Nordic gets 50 million euro EIB loan for Ebola vaccine

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Bavarian Nordic has received a 50 million euro ($56 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help it develop a vaccine against Ebola, which has claimed 11,000 lives in a pandemic in Western Africa.

Some of the loan can also be used to develop the Danish company's prostate cancer immunotherapy, which industry experts have said could be a ground-breaker in the treatment of that particular disease.

The cash injection is another boost for the young pharmaceutical company which struck milestone deals with giants Johnson & Johnson in October for the development of the Ebola vaccine, and with Bristol-Mayers Squibb for the prostate cancer treatment.

The Ebola vaccine project received a 100 million euros in January from the Innovative Medicines Initiative in Europe to speed up its development.

Bavarian Nordic executives have sounded upbeat this year, not least because of upfront cash of $25 million from Johnson & Johnson and $60 million from Bristol-Mayers.

Its shares rose 1.6 percent to 312 crowns ($47.05) each, down 1 percent. Its shares peaked last month at their highest since 2007 at just under 400 crowns but have since slipped together with local peers.

Aside from Johnson & Johnson and Bavarian Nordic's Ebola vaccine, two others are being developed, one by GlaxoSmithKline and one jointly by Merck and NewLink Genetics.

Earlier on Tuesday, the World Health Organisation said because the pandemic was close to being stamped out, clinical trials may not get the necessary data to prove they work and be approved by regulators.

Bavarian Nordic said it would not directly comment on that until after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conclude their advisory committee hearing on precisely that subject, being held on Tuesday in Washington.

($1 = 0.8905 euros)

($1 = 6.6306 Danish crowns)