As fund manager for FONPYME - the Fund for SME Foreign Investment Operations -, COFIDES has extended a 955,639 USD joint venture loan to the company PROGENIGA Inc., the PROGENIKA Group’s subsidiary in North America.

PROGENIGA Inc. Is located in Boston (Massachussets) and was established in 2007 as a spin-off company of Progenika Biopharma S.A.. The subsidiary validates, analyzes and commercializes PROGENIKA DNA microarrays in USA under the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the CLIA lab regulations. In 2008, Progenika awarded the CLIA - Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments - to certify the precision and fiability of its DNAbased tests.

The CLIA enables PROGENIKA to make the diagnosis tests in the laboratories of its customers - like doctors or Healt Care insurance companies-. Thus, PROGENIKA envisages a new investment project to establish PROGENIKA’s platforms in the customers’ laboratories. Firstly, 10 employees of PROGENIKA’s staff will be working for these platforms. The growth projections predict this staff will reach 100 employees in 2015.

FONPYME finances 50% of the total investment and contributes to the international expansion of a SME which is leader in multiplex genotyping technologies.

The parent company of the Group is Progenika Biopharma, a pioneer in the field of Personalized Medicine since its foundation in 2000. The Group develops and manufactures DNAchips for genotyping that can be used in the diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases. Progenika has developmental centres in the Bizkaia Technology Park (Spain) and in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), a laboratory in the United Arab Emirates and trade and patents offices in Madrid and London.