NeuralStem Inc. Raises $5 Million in a Private Placement
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 16 -- Neuralstem, announced today it has raised $5,135,000 in a private placement of 2,054,000 units ($2.50 per unit) to a group of institutional investors. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one half warrant exercisable at $3.00 per share. T.R. Winston and Company acted as the placement agent.
Neuralstem plans to use proceeds from the placement for its anticipated first human trial, as well as working capital and other general corporate purposes.
According to Neuralstem president and CEO Richard Garr, "We are pleased by the quality of institutional participation and view the placement as solidifying the company's balance sheet in preparation for a National Exchange listing, as well as providing equity capital sufficient to fund our first human trials expected to begin during calendar 2007."
About Neuralstem
Neuralstem Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of treatments based on the transplantation of human neural stem cells. Neuralstem's patent-protected technology enables, for the first time, the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia. The Company's technology was invented by founding scientist, Karl Johe, Ph.D. while at the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke, at the National Institutes of Health.
The Company expects that its first Investigational New Drug (IND) application will be for the treatment of Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, a form of paraplegia that sometimes results from the surgery to repair aortic aneurysms and for which there is no effective treatment. The Company hopes to submit its initial IND application to the FDA and begin its first human trial during calendar year 2007.
Major Central Nervous System diseases targeted by the Company with research programs currently underway include: Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, ALS, and Parkinson's Disease. The company has also developed immortalized human neural stem cells for in-vitro use in drug development for the academic and pharmaceutical markets. The company's cells recently extended the life of rats with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in a paper published in the journal TRANSPLANTATION, and were deemed viable for continued work in neurodegenerative spinal conditions. For further information, please visit http://www.neuralstem.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Neuralstem wishes to caution the readers of this press release that actual results may differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and may be adversely affected by, among other things, US FDA responses, and responses from other jurisdictions, to various regulatory submissions; SEC responses to various registration submissions; changes in corporate strategy; the need to raise additional capital; the success or failure of other private and public organizations and/or academic and corporate institutions engaged in stem cell research and development, and the market for stem cell research in general. For further information, please review the company's SB-2 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and its 10-Q for the quarter ending September 30, 2006.