An aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage is a stroke caused by a burst blood vessel on the surface of the brain. According to Edvince, "mortality in severe aSAH remains 23%, and up to 50% of survivors suffer long-term neurological deficits". The Lund company, built on research by Professor Lars Edvinsson at Lund University, is developing EDV2209 to stop the delayed damage that follows the bleed.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards a €4.42 million project that ran from January 2022 to October 2024. According to the CORDIS report, the Phase 1b/2a trial treated 27 patients in five cohorts and finished in February 2025. Edvince reports "no drug-related serious adverse events" and a "strong clinical efficacy signal", but has published no efficacy figures. A Phase 2b is in preparation.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Edvince AB, 556647-1834, Medicon Village, Lund, Sweden
- Science
- Neurovascular research of Professor Lars Edvinsson, Lund University
- Drug
- EDV2209, given into the spinal fluid
- Designations
- Orphan drug in the EU and USA
- Clinical partners
- Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen), Odense University Hospital, Copenhagen University
- EIC project
- EDVance, 1 Jan 2022 to 31 Oct 2024, closed
- EIC funding
- Grant first
Where Edvince Stands Today
Edvince says "regulatory and clinical preparations are ongoing, including site selection and investigator engagement across Scandinavia" for the Phase 2b. Its two pages on that study describe it differently: one as "randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled", the other as "a two-armed open-label trial: active vs historical controls" with 45 evaluable patients and an interim analysis after 30. No start date has been given. The company's only 2026 news item is the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' Eriksson Prize for Professor Edvinsson. Its financial statements were not accessible for this article.
The Technology: Protecting the Brain's Small Vessels
After a bleed, Edvince says, rising pressure in the skull triggers changes in brain arteries that constrict them and cause inflammation, leading to delayed cerebral ischaemia. EDV2209 targets that cascade. In the planned Phase 2b it is given three times into the spinal fluid, first within eight hours of the rupture, then at 12 and 24 hours, at 28.5 micrograms a dose. The main measure is the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended at three months.
"Well tolerated across all tested dose levels; no drug-related serious adverse events observed."
Edvince, Phase 1b/2a resultsWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The project promised "a paradigm shift in the treatment of stroke". CORDIS reports the trial approved by the Danish Medicines Agency in 2021, the first patient treated in March 2022, the fifth cohort finished in February 2025 "representing a delay from the original timeline", orphan drug designation in the EU and USA, and a formulation patent filed in October 2024. The next step it names is to "identify a competent CNS partner with sufficient financial, technical and commercial capacity".
- Complete the first trialDelivered27 patients, late.
- Show safetyDeliveredNo drug-related SAEs.
- Published efficacy dataNot shownSignal claimed only.
- A development partnerNot yetNone announced.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
The award was "grant first"; we found no EIC Fund investment. Edvince paid €1.92 million of the project itself. Its investor page gives no funding rounds or amounts, and the Swedish register figures were behind paywalls. How the Phase 2b will be funded is not stated.
What cannot be checked
The Phase 2a efficacy data, which of the two Phase 2b designs will be used, when it will start and how it will be paid for are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Edvince says there are "no effective and specific pharmacological treatments" for the delayed brain damage after this kind of stroke. The EIC paid most of the first test of one in patients. Turning that into evidence of benefit now depends on a larger trial that has not started.
What the project promised
A paradigm shift in the treatment of stroke.
What the record shows
A completed safety trial in 27 patients, orphan drug status and a Phase 2b still in preparation.
The Verdict
First step done, the hard one ahead
EDVance delivered its trial, late but safely. A paradigm shift needs efficacy data, and Edvince has neither published its signal nor started the study that could prove it.
Edvince has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.
