Intec Pharma Ltd. (TASE: INTP), which trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) at a market cap of NIS 164 million, has submitted a draft prospectus for a Nasdaq offering. According to estimates, the company seeks to raise $30 million, which it needs for a phase III clinical trial of its flagship product, the Accordion Pill for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The underwriters are Maxim Group and Roth Capital.
Intec began holding assessment meetings in advance of the IPO two weeks ago, and seems to have decided that it is possible (the company’s share price has dropped 8% in this period). Intec has been in contact with parties in the US since mid-2013, since which time the company’s share price has dropped 40%.
Intec Pharma has developed the “Accordion Pill,” which opens in the stomach, just before reaching the intestine, and releases drugs slowly, at precisely the desired absorption point. The technology is has a few different applications, and the company’s flagship product is a pill for the release of the Parkinson’s drug Levodopa.
Phase III clinical trial approval
The planned fundraising follows US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the company’s Phase III clinical trial plan, after a two-year process. Potential investors (as well as potential strategic partners that the company hopes will enter in the future) will have a better picture of the time and money that will be necessary before the product may be submitted for approval.
The primary aim of the clinical trial is to determine the number of “off time,” or paralysis hours reported by patients. In the company’s phase II trial, it found that its relative advantage was in the reduction of total off-hours.
NeuroDerm, an Intec competitor of sorts, has a product that releases Levodopa slowly through the skin, and is at slightly less advanced development stage. NeuroDerm has an advantage in the trans-dermal delivery of high-doses of the drug, and trades at a market cap of $231 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 10, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015