Australian monoclonal antibody company, Immune System Therapeutics Limited (IST), today said it completed a private placement to raise $2 million from new and existing private and institutional investors in Australia. Investors have agreed to purchase 5,200,000 shares in the company at a price of $0.50 cents per share resulting in gross proceeds of $2.6 million.
Immune System Therapeutics Chairman, Dr. Joe Collins said, “We are gratified that this capital raising was oversubscribed. This is testament of the continued confidence in the growing value of our promising anti-cancer therapy and drug platform and in the demonstrated ability of the management team to achieve timely corporate and clinical milestones.”
The new capital will allow IST to expedite patient recruitment into its Phase II clinical program for its lead anti-cancer compound MDX-1097 following confirmation of safety and efficacy in myeloma patients and the recent granting of Orphan Drug Designation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr. Collins said, “IST is now focused on securing a license agreement with a global pharmaceutical partner and planning the Phase II b trial to be initiated next year.” Depending upon the timing of the Phase II b trial IST may raise additional capital to fund the further production of its drug MDX 1097.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company’s securities in any jurisdiction.
About MDX-1097
MDX-1097 is a genetically engineered antibody that binds specifically to a target protein found on the cell surface of some types of blood cancer. Researchers anticipate the antibody will potentially reduce the number of cancerous cells in multiple myeloma patients and improve patient health and wellbeing. Laboratory studies have shown that the antibody works with the patient’s immune system to induce death of their multiple myeloma cancer cells. It was created specifically to treat multiple myeloma blood cancer, a debilitating terminal disease, with an estimated patient population of over 150,000 worldwide. The disease typically occurs in older patients and is responsible for two per cent of all cancer deaths in the United States every year.
About Immune Systems Therapeutics
Immune Systems Therapeutics (IST) is a private bio-therapeutic company commercialising a range of promising new antibody drugs to treat human blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. The company’s unique therapies target a range of common blood cancers known as B cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. IST has extensive and robust patents covering a new class of drugs targeting blood cancers and autoimmune diseases that are potentially safer, less toxic and more effective than current standard chemotherapy treatments. IST’s business plan is to license its drugs to international pharmaceutical companies for regulatory approval, production and sales.
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