Reliance on fund raising causes concern for life sciences group
The future of a Nuneaton life sciences company could be in doubt, due to its reliance on future fund raisings.
The board of ValiRx said it’s concerned that the group and its parent company is reliant on future fund raisings to continue their activities as budgeted. Should future fund raisings be unsuccessful, this may cast significant doubt on company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
ValiRx, which is focused on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women’s health, has seen investor interest retreat like most life sciences businesses, due to geo-political events and the rise in interest rates to tackle inflation. Factors have been further exacerbated by slower-than-expected progress in key projects, such as product out-licencing and, to a lesser extent, protracted negotiations on university-derived evaluation agreements.
Two deals with Imperial College London and Dundee University are underway, following the launch of a new laboratory in Nottingham and its subsidiary Inaphaea BioLabs.
CEO Dr S J Dilly however says that this year will be “another year of significant evolution”, as changes to the board will bring new expertise into the group.
Dr Dilly said: “While 2023 witnessed the launch of the Inaphaea BioLabs facility, with the Group shifting from being a wholly virtual biotech group to have in-house capability to conduct our experiments in-house; we view 2024 as the stepping stone to consolidate that growth”.
It’s now entered into a letter of intent with Ambrose Healthcare for the development of a unique compound. With a focus on rare diseases and patients managed in hospitals, ValiRx says that Ambrose has the right skills and experience to progress VAL401 into clinical studies when the necessary funding has been secured.
The scientific assets of Imagen Therapeutics, including a biobank of patient-derived cell models have also been acquired since funds were first secured in January 2023.
