Lipoxen listing on AIM raises £3.78M
Alternative Investments Market (AIM) has raised £3.78 million (€5.5
million) in a fundraising effort that will allow them to proceed
with preclinical trials to treat disorders such as diabetes,
Pneumococcal infections, and hepatitis C.
The drug and vaccine delivery company said that the funding would carry through to mid 2007, by which time it hoped to have received human data on both PolyXen and ImuXen, its proprietary-patented technologies
Lipoxen raised £3.78 million (before expenses) by placing 28,000,000 ordinary shares at a price of 13.5 pence per share. Following this placing, there are a total of 97,412,832 ordinary shares in issue.
"The funds raised will enable us to progress our pipeline of drugs and vaccines in collaboration with major drug and vaccine companies. Our patented technology has the potential to improve the effectiveness of current blockbuster drugs," said Scott Maguire, Lipoxen's CEO.
"In reducing dosing requirements and improving the delivery of our pipeline candidates such as insulin and pneumococcal vaccine, we expect our products to capture a significant share of the market," he added.
Lipoxen's portfolio of drugs includes one product candidate designed to improve the therapy of diabetics by reducing the frequency that patients need to inject insulin.
Another candidate, a pneumococcal vaccine similar to Prevnar, marketed by Wyeth, and considered to be the first billion dollar vaccine, may be improved to double the bacterial strain's coverage or efficacy of the vaccine currently on the market.
Further product candidates are designed to considerably improve the therapy and reduce the costs for patients being treated for kidney failure, hepatitis C and cancer.
According to the World Generics Market report by Espicom, the protein and peptide market in which Lipoxen operates was valued at $30bn in 2003 and is expected to grow to $59bn by 2010. Datamonitor reckon that the vaccines market was valued at $9bn in 2001 and is growing at 12 per cent per year.
Lipoxen has become quite a player within its respective fields of focus having established a number of collaboration agreements in to develop product candidates.
The recent collaboration agreement with Baxter Healthcare investigates the effectiveness of conjugating Baxter's proprietary hemophilia protein Factor VIII with PolyXen.
PolyXen is a natural polymer (polysialic acid) that can prolong the active life and improve the pharmacokinetics of conventional drugs and biologicals.
Lipoxen has also finalised an extended agreement with its current partner, the Serum Institute of India, expanding the number of drugs and vaccines the two companies are collaborating on.
These products include current blockbusters erythropoietin (EPO), paclitaxel and a pneumococcal vaccine.
Additionally, Lipoxen will receive $750,000 in preclinical payments plus further milestones and royalties from National Biotechnologies OAO, the world's fifth largest manufacturer of insulin, for licensing Lipoxen's proprietary extended release insulin candidate for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan markets.
