Gentronix raises £610,000 through rights issue

MANCHESTER-based university spin-out Gentronix has raised a further £610,000 in working capital after completing a rights issue among its existing investor base.

Chairman John Nicholson said that the rights issue saw around nine private investors take up extra shares in the company alongside its venture capital backers NVM Private Equity and YFM Private Equity, who acted as joint underwriters.

Gentronix  was formed in 1999 and has developed a human cell-based assay technology which gives an indication whether or not a drug compound could damage genetic or cell structures. It has scored a number of major successes with major pharma firms. In March, it signed a three-year deal with GlaxoSmithKline signed in March to provide its Greenscreen and Bluescreen HTC genotoxicity assays.

Nicholson said that Gentronix would use the funds to take on extra sales and laboratory staff so that it can offer a broader range of drug assays.
 
“The business is looking very good at the moment and things are positive, but we felt that it was the right time to raise funding to allow us to recruit to take advantage of opportunities. We’ll take on another sales guy and a couple of people in the lab to allow us to develop new assays.”

The company is adding an in-vitro MNT assay and a COMET assay to its existing suite of products – neither of which are new technologies in their own right but when combined with Gentronix’s assays will give pharma companies additional information about their proposed drug compounds.

“We’re looking to become the provider of choice,” he said.