Micro cap Neurotrope has raised $20 million in a private placing as it looks to push on with its drug development programs and potentially list on the Nasdaq.
The financial specifics saw it sign up to a definitive securities purchase agreement with (unnamed) investors to raise $20.2 million in a private placement of common stock and warrants exercisable for common stock.
The biotech company said it will sell shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $.20 per share and five-year warrants to buy an equal number of the company’s shares of common stock, at an exercise price of $0.40 per share. It was trading yesterday at 52 cents a share on the OTC Markets.
The cash boost for the tiny biotech, which as of yesterday had a market cap of under $30 million, will go toward finishing off work for its Phase II trial of bryostatin, a new med targeting the activation of PKC epsilon, in the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer’s. Top line results from the trial are expected to be announced in April.
The cash pot will also be used for bryostatin in a new indication, Fragile X syndrome, for which the FDA recently handed it an orphan drug tag.
The money, along with its existing cash resources, should fund the biotech “at least through the middle of 2018,” Neurotrope said in a statement.
It is also set to file docs to the Nasdaq Capital Market as it looks to meet all of the Nasdaq listing requirements, which, if successful, could open it up to more U.S. investment ops in the future.
Dr. Susanne Wilke, Neurotrope CEO, said, “We expect top line data from our 150 patient Phase II Alzheimer’s study in April 2017 and the funds raised will enable us to continue our Alzheimer's program either independently or with a corporate partner, based upon the results of the current clinical trial.”
Dr. Daniel Alkon, Neurotrope's President and CSO, added, “We are hopeful that the clinical trials will demonstrate that bryostatin affects restoration of the brain’s synaptic networks to potentially reverse Alzheimer's disease pathologies and cognitive deficits. This funding is a major milestone for the company and we believe it will allow us to accelerate our development of innovative regenerative medicine in the CNS space.”