D-Pharm, which is developing a treatment for stroke, is about to make a $15 million rights issue. This is a preliminary step towards a flotation on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, for which the company has already filed a shelf prospectus. The company seeks to ensure that it will have sufficient funds to complete Phase III clinical trials of its drug and gain US Food and Drugs Administration approval, or at least to reach intermediate results.
Shares of Clal Biotechnology, which owns 41% of D-Pharm, rose 6% on the announcement yesterday. The cost of the clinical trials will be in the region of $20-30 million, so that is presumably the kind of sum the company aims to raise in total.
Besides Clal Biotechnology, other large shareholders in D-Pharm are venture capital firm Pitango and IHCV. Sources inform "Globes" that most of the shareholders wish to take up their rights.
D-Pharm was founded in 1994 by Dr. Alex Kozak, who serves as president and CEO of the company. It has two products in its pipeline, with the stroke treatment clearly the leading one. Stroke is one of the most widespread medical conditions, and one of the most expensive for health systems to deal with. At present, there are no good treatments, and the market is worth billions of dollars.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 29, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009