- AdAlta raises AU$10 million (US$7.1m, EUR€6.9m) in over-subscribed IPO on the ASX (ASX: 1AD)
- Proceeds from fund raising to support Phase 1 development of its lead candidate drug (AD-114) to treat lung fibrosis, for onward partnering to big pharma
- Powerful proprietary technology platform, that generates new biological drugs called i-bodies to be marketed to global biotech and pharmaceutical companies
Melbourne, Australia, 12 August, 2016 – AdAlta Limited (ASX: 1AD), the biotechnology company specialising in the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics has closed its AU$10 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) following strong support from investors, including a number of leading investment funds and existing shareholders. The offer was oversubscribed.
The Company expects to commence trading on the ASX on or around August 22. Under the IPO, a total of 40 million new shares will be issued at $0.25 per share, raising AU$10 million. Shares held by directors and existing major shareholders will be subject to escrow for between 6 and 24 months from the date of listing.
The company will use the funds to complete the first phase of a clinical study aimed at validating its lead candidate drug (AD-114) which shows promise in treating fibrotic diseases, notably idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), for which current therapies have limited efficacy and where there is a high-unmet medical need.
AD-114 was developed based on AdAlta’s novel technology platform that produces human proteins which mimic the shape of shark antibodies and engineers their key antigen binding and stability features to create unique compounds, known as i-bodies, for therapeutic intervention in disease. The Company is utilising the power of its i-body technology platform to develop a pipeline of i-body drugs with an initial focus on treating fibrotic diseases.
AdAlta CEO Samantha Cobb said, “AdAlta received a significant amount of institutional support with several leading healthcare and biotechnology funds participating in the IPO. Proceeds from the IPO will expedite our first candidate into Phase 1 human clinical trials for the lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Our strategy is to license this drug candidate on completion of the planned Phase 1 clinical studies.
“The IPO funding will allow AdAlta to develop AD-114 for licensing to a major pharmaceutical company. There is heightened global interest in promising new treatments for fibrosis as well as for the new generations of antibody technologies. The fibrosis sector is characterised by licensing deals with major pharmaceutical companies at the Phase 1 stage. Up-front payments of $100 million and up to $500 million in milestone payments have been typical in recent transactions.”
She continued, “We plan to expand our development pipeline of novel proprietary i-body drug candidates. AdAlta intends to license or partner our drug discoveries with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with the objective of earning up front milestone payments and longer term licensing revenues.”
Patersons Securities acted as Lead Manager to the IPO.
About AdAlta
AdAlta Limited (ASX: 1AD) is an Australian based drug development company headquartered in Melbourne. The Company is focused on using its proprietary technology platform to generate i-bodies – a new class of protein therapeutics, with applications as therapeutic drugs to treat disease.
The i-body is a human analogue of the antigen binding domain of the shark single domain antibody, which combines the advantages of monoclonal antibodies (high target specificity and affinity) with the beneficial stability features of small molecules. In addition to stability, the i-body has a long binding loop that is a feature of shark single domain antibodies not present in either human or next generation antibodies. This feature enables the i-body to recognise and bind to a diverse range of different therapeutically-relevant drug targets, including those that are difficult/intractable to access by current antibody therapies. These include clinically important targets such as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels.
AdAlta is developing its lead i-body candidate, AD-114, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other human fibrotic diseases, for which current therapies are sub-optimal and there is a high-unmet medical need.
The Company also plans to continue further drug discovery and development directed towards other drug targets and diseases with its i-body technology platform.
Further information can be found at: www.adalta.com.au
At the Company
Sam Cobb
Chief Executive Officer
AdAlta Limited
Tel: +61 (0) 3 9479 5159
E: s.cobb@adalta.com.au
Media (Australia)
Andrew Geddes
Tel: +61 (0) 408 677 734
E: adalta@instinctif.com
Media (International)
Sue Charles/Daniel Gooch
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7866 7905
E: adalta@instinctif.com