Biotech firm raises £14m to support ‘strong progress’ of its drug portfolio
Redx Pharma has raised £14.1m from existing shareholders to fund its development plans for 2024.
The Cheshire biotech company has had a challenging year, after the planned merger with Jounce Therapeutics collapsed in March when the American drug research business took up another offer instead.
The fundraise announced today was at 26p-per-share, which was Redx’s closing share price on Monday. However Redx’s share price has fallen 60% since the start of 2023.
One of the Redmile Funds, which taken together are the company’s largest shareholder, has invested more than £8m to acquire nearly 60% of the new shares.
Sofinnova Partners has invested £2m, while other shareholders Polar Capital and Invus have also joined the fundraising round.
Redx said it will have £28.1m in cash for working capital to “fund the anticipated progression of its ROCK portfolio to important value inflection points in 2024”.
Redx’s chair Dr Jane Griffiths added: “At Redx we are focussed on developing novel, targeted therapies for fibrotic disease and cancer in areas of high unmet medical need.
“This fundraise enables us to continue the strong progress of our industry-leading ROCK portfolio, specifically advancing our ROCK2-selective inhibitor, zelasudil, in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and commencing clinical studies for our gastrointestinal-targeted ROCK inhibitor, RXC008, which has the potential to be a first-in-class treatment for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease.”
