The biotech gets $1.2m, with another $11.3m in the offing to support its clinical trial pipeline.
Clinical stage radiotherapeutics company Radiopharm has signed a share facility agreement worth a potential A$12.5 million with US institutional investor, Lind Partners.
Under a share subscription agreement, Radiopharm will receive A$1.2 million, with up to a further A$11.3 million in funding available under a share purchase agreement (although Radiopharm’s ability to receive the full amount will be subject to shareholder approval).
The SPA is a staged private placement of up to $11.3 million in monthly instalments of between A$50,000 and up to A$1 million monthly over a 12-month period (unless extended), with an initial instalment of A$300,000.
Funds raised will support the clinical trial pipeline and otherwise for general working capital of Radiopharm. Funds relating to the A$1.5 million initial investments are expected to be received within five business days.
Lind invests in small and mid-cap companies publicly traded in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.
Radiopharm’s managing director, Mr Riccardo Canevari, said:
“We are pleased to have entered these arrangements with Lind and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship. The funds will support our ongoing clinical trials programs.”
Phillip Valliere, managing director of Lind, said:
“Lind is pleased to invest to support Radiopharm’s mission of becoming a recognised leader in radiopharmaceutical products for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. We are pleased that the board has chosen Lind as a financial partner to advance its clinical and commercialisation efforts.”
Radiopharm has a pipeline of six distinct and highly differentiated platform technologies spanning peptides, small molecules and monoclonal antibodies for use in cancer, in pre-clinical and clinical stages of development from some of the world’s leading universities and institutes.
The pipeline has been built based on the potential to be first-to-market or best-in-class. The clinical program includes one Phase II and three Phase I trials in a variety of solid tumour cancers including breast, kidney and brain.
Radiopharm shares jumped 9% yesterday morning after announcing a study that showed its DUNP19 product can halt tumour progression and prolong survival in various cancers.
The study demonstrated for the very first time how DUNP19 can be used in various cancers for the detection and targeting of leucine-rich repeat containing 15 (LRRC15)-expressing cancers.
LRRC15 is a cellular marker and new therapeutic target in solid tumours (breast, head and neck, lung, pancreatic), and in cancers that arise from connective tissue (osteosarcoma, glioblastoma, melanoma).
DUNP19 is a monoclonal antibody that targets LRRC15, offering a strong potential for it to be used as an agent for treating LRRC15+ aggressive cancers.
The findings proposed that a novel technique for imaging and treating a wide range of aggressive tumours that express LRRC15 are needed, given the limited options for targeted therapy.
DUNP19 is currently under pre-clinical investigation at Radiopharm.
“These findings underscore the potential of radio-theranostic targeting of LRRC15 as a powerful precision medicine platform,” said the University of California’s Dr David Ulmert, Radiopharm’s scientific advisory board member and co-inventor of the DUNP19 platform.