Therapix Biosciences, whose field is medical cannabis, has raised $12 million (gross) on Nasdaq. The price of each ADR (a security traded in the US that tracks a stock traded on another exchange) was $6 in the offering. Each ADS represents 40 Therapix shares traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which means that the offering took place at a price of NIS 0.54 per share, representing a discount of 23% on yesterday's closing price.
Following completion of the US offering, the company's shares will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker TRPX. The stock price has been very volatile. So far this year it has risen 30%, including sharp rises in the past two days, bring Therapix's market cap to some NIS 40 million. At the end of the third quarter of 2016, the company had $1.6 million cash, and it has since raised $1 million in a private placement. The proceeds of the current offering are $10.3 million net. The underwriters have an option to buy further ADRs to the tune of $1.8 million.
Therapix is controlled by the Jesselson family, Haim Amir, and Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz. It has been through several incarnations since it was floated on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange a decade ago. It was formerly called NasVax and dealt in respiratory diseases, then Alzheimer's and liver infections, and about two years ago focused on medical cannabis.
The company is currently developing two drugs on the basis of synthetic THC, (tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis), one for Tourette syndrome, and the other for early cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's. The product is supposed to undergo the registration process with the US Food and Drug Administration on the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for new drugs based on known chemical ingredients. This pathway is longer than that which is required for registering direct usage of the cannabis plant, but shorter than the pathway for a completely new drug. The Tourette syndrome treatment has undergone human safety trials and should enter efficacy trials in the third quarter of 2017. The cognitive impairment treatment is expected to enter trials on human beings in 2018.
Another Israeli biomed company jumped on the medical cannabis bandwagon this week. Intec Pharma Ltd. (TASE: INTP), which is developing a pill for gastro-retentive delivery of drugs, announced the start of trials for delayed release of cannabis.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 23, 2017
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