diff --git a/swig/edata.i b/swig/edata.i
index d3d19b76c8..47332dbbf2 100644
--- a/swig/edata.i
+++ b/swig/edata.i
@@ -8,6 +8,22 @@ using namespace amici;
 
 %ignore ConditionContext;
 
+%feature("pythonprepend") ExpData::ExpData %{
+    """
+    Convenience wrapper for :py:class:`amici.amici.ExpData` constructors
+
+    :param args: arguments
+
+    :returns: ExpData Instance
+    """
+    if args:
+        from amici.numpy import ReturnDataView
+
+        # Get the raw pointer if necessary
+        if isinstance(args[0], (ExpData, ExpDataPtr, ReturnDataView, Model, ModelPtr)):
+            args[0] = _get_ptr(args[0]["ptr"])
+%}
+
 // ExpData.__repr__
 %pythoncode %{
 def _edata_repr(self: "ExpData"):
@@ -72,34 +88,6 @@ def _edata_repr(self: "ExpData"):
 %}
 %extend amici::ExpData {
 %pythoncode %{
-def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
-    """
-    Convenience wrapper for :py:class:`amici.amici.ExpData` constructors
-
-    :param args: arguments
-
-    :returns: ExpData Instance
-    """
-    if not args:
-        return super().__new__(cls)
-
-    from amici.numpy import ReturnDataView
-
-    if isinstance(args[0], ReturnDataView):
-        return super().__new__(cls, _get_ptr(args[0]["ptr"]), *args[1:])
-
-    if isinstance(args[0], (ExpData, ExpDataPtr)):
-        # the *args[:1] should be empty, but by the time you read this,
-        # the constructor signature may have changed, and you are glad this
-        # wrapper did not break.
-        return super().__new__(cls, _get_ptr(args[0]), *args[1:])
-
-    if isinstance(args[0], (Model, ModelPtr)):
-        return super().__new__(cls, _get_ptr(args[0]))
-
-    return super().__new__(cls, *args)
-
-
 def __repr__(self):
     return _edata_repr(self)