The European Investment Bank is providing up to €20 million in convertible venture debt to Italian medical technology company Tensive to support work on bioresorbable implants used in breast reconstruction and post-surgery tissue marking for breast cancer patients.
The funding will support Tensive’s research and development and capital spending to advance implants for reconstructive surgery and for tissue marking after lumpectomy, a procedure that removes a breast tumour and a small margin of surrounding tissue, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced on Thursday.
The financing is backed by the EU’s InvestEU programme and will also support product development, clinical trials and early industrialisation activities in Italy.
Tensive’s REGENERA™/SOFTAG™ device is a patented, off-the-shelf implant designed to be inserted in the space left after a tumour is removed during lumpectomy.
The company says the patient’s own healthy tissue regrows in the area initially filled by the biomaterial, which is then gradually absorbed.
The implant can be distinguished from surrounding tissue on diagnostic imaging, which is intended to support targeted delivery of radiotherapy and follow-up monitoring.
InvestEU-backed financing
The EIB described the funding as addressing limited access to long-term finance for “clinical-stage” medtech companies — businesses still developing and testing medical technologies — which it said can face challenges because of development risk and lack of traditional collateral.
“Supporting European innovation in health, and in women’s health in particular, is central to the EIB Group’s mission,” EIB Vice President Gelsomina Vigliotti said.
Tensive chief executive Sanjay Kakkar said the financing was intended to help the company move REGENERA™ from “positive pivotal clinical results” towards use by surgeons. First EU regulatory approval is anticipated in early 2027.
