The Luxembourg-based investment group GEM Global Yield has committed to provide Novaremed with up to US$50 million over a 36-month term. In return, GEM will have the right to purchase shares of Novaremed following the public listing of the company, as was explained in a press release from the Basel biotech. Novaremed will control the timing and maximum amount of drawdown under this share subscription facility.

“This funding agreement with GEM will help us, upon the company’s public listing, to advance our highly innovative lead product that we are developing for the non-opioid treatment of patients affected by diabetes-related chronic neuropathic pain,” said Isaac Kobrin, Executive Chairman of the Board of Novaremed, in the press release. His company was founded in Israel in 2008 and set up in Basel at the end of 2017. Basel Area Business & Innovation, the investment and innovation promotion agency, supported Novaremed in making the move.

Novaremed’s lead product, NRD135S.E1, is an investigational non-opioid small molecule drug for the treatment of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Patients suffering from this experience a painful burning or tingling sensation in areas such as the hands or feet and lower legs. This debilitating neuropathic pain substantially impairs quality of life. Given the ongoing opioid crisis with addiction to pain medication a growing problem, the non-opioid drug developed by Novaremed is a novel alternative treatment.

GEM’s investment represents the largest funding round for a Swiss startup this January, as was reported in a press release on the Startup.ch platform about the latest Swiss Venture Capital Report. Startups from the Basel Area also received the most financing of all regions.