Acute leukemia focused pharmaceutical company Erytech Pharma, has announced the closing of a private placement of 793,877 ordinary shares to qualified investors in the United States and Europe for total gross proceeds of approximately €10 million.
The French drugmaker said ti intends to use the proceeds from the private placement to advance several “key strategic initiatives” related to the development of its lead product candidate, eryaspase Graspa for acute leukemia, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
The capital raise was subscribed by prominent institutional investors in the United States and in Europe.
“The proceeds of this private placement will meaningfully strengthen our financial position and give Erytech greater maneuverability as we continue to advance the development of Graspa and the broader Erycaps platform. We are pleased with the strong and continued commitment of our existing shareholders who participated in the financing. We also recognize the support of the new institutions that invested, who will further strengthen our investor base, notably in the United States.” commented Gil Beyen, Chairman and CEO of Erytech Pharma. “We expect a number of important milestones in the upcoming year 2017, including primary data from our Phase 2 study of Graspa in pancreatic cancer, as well as the resubmission of our European marketing authorization application for Graspa in the treatment of ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) and primary data from the Phase 2b trial of Graspa in the treatment of AML. This additional capital will ensure that we are in a more robust position to deliver on these anticipated milestones.”
Admission of the new shares
The share capital of the company is now 873,264.80 euros, composed of 8,732,648 shares with a nominal value of €0.10.
Reminder of the main terms of the share capital increase
The company placed 793,877 new shares with a par value of €0.10, at a price of €12.50 per share, including share premium, for a total amount subscribed of approximately €10 million, representing approximately 10% of the share capital of the company.
The issue price of the new shares represented a discount of 3.1% from the weighted average share price of the company’s shares on the regulated market of Euronext Paris during the 10 trading days preceding the determination of the issue price.
On an illustrative basis, a shareholder holding 1% of the company’s share capital before the issuance will now hold a stake of 0.91% after the transaction.
Acute leukemia drug Graspa
Graspa has achieved positive efficacy and safety results from its completed Phase 2/3 pivotal clinical trial in Europe in children and adults with relapsed or refractory ALL. Erytech also has an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of eryaspase in the United States in adults with newly diagnosed ALL, and a Phase 2b clinical trial in Europe in elderly patients with newly diagnosed AML, each in combination with chemotherapy.