Anchiano Therapeutics Ltd. (TASE: ANCN), which develops cancer treatments, today published a prospectus for an offering on Nasdaq. It is believed that the company plans to raise $30-40 million at a company value equal to its current NIS 148 million market cap ($40 million, before money). This follows a confidential filing in November.
Anchiano (formerly Biocancell) decided to embark on a public offering despite the decline in its share price since August, corresponding to a general slide in share prices of medical companies. The US indices have begun a recovery in recent weeks, but are still 15% below their August peak.
Anchiano has developed a cancer drug containing a diphtheria toxin and a medicinal component capable of homing in on H19, a specific receptor in the body that almost never appears in healthy cells. The company's lead product, which is designed to treat bladder cancer, is about to enter a second Phase III clinical trial designed to obtain approval for the drug.
The company also recently started a multi-center Phase II trial of a drug for treatment of cancer of the bladder membrane. Anchiano hopes that this trial will be the final one before marketing, even though it is only a Phase II trial and is not particularly large, because the drug has the potential to save lives, and there are no alternatives in the market.
The trial was carried out on 140 patients in the US. Interim results were published after 35 patients were recruited, and the company in any case can follow the progress of the trial, because it is an open one without any concealed control group. Anchiano president and CEO Frank Haluska believes that the interim results will be published towards mid-2019. The company estimates the main target markets - the US, Europe, and Japan - at a combined $1.5 billion.
Major shareholders in Anchiano include Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (TASE: CBI) (30%); Shavit Capital, which invests in companies before they make public offerings (13.3%); Edgewater Partner Holdings (12.3%); Palisade Capital Management (11.8%); and Meitav DS Investment House Ltd. (5%). As of the end of the third quarter of 2018, the company had $11 million in cash.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 8, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019