Cheshire biotech Redx Pharma will admit £14m-worth of new shares to trading on AIM tomorrow following approval at today’s general meeting.
On October 18 the company, based at Alderley Park, announced the issue of 54,074,458 subscription shares, valued at £14,059,359 before expenses, to existing shareholders to fund its development plans for 2024.
The subscription was conditional on the passing of certain resolutions at a general meeting, which has now taken place today.
The company said in a statement following approval at the GM that it now anticipates admitting the shares to AIM at 8am on Tuesday, December 7.
Investors include Redmile, whose funds invested more than £8m to acquire nearly 60% of the new shares and Sofinnova Partners with £2m.
In a second announcement today, the company also released preclinical data from new development candidate, RXC009, a novel, selective discoidin domain receptor 1 inhibitor and potential first-in-class treatment for chronic kidney disease.
RXC009 demonstrated “excellent selectivity for DDR1 compared to other disclosed DDR inhibitors when tested against kinase and other target panels with limited off-target pharmacology,” the company revealed.
Richard Armer, chief scientific officer, added: “This compelling preclinical data suggests that our selective DDR1 inhibitor, RXC009, has the potential to be a first-in-class treatment with an initial indication in chronic kidney disease and associated fibrosis, which remains a significant unmet medical need. The nomination of our 10th development candidate again highlights our medicinal chemistry expertise and unique ability to develop novel drug candidates against historically challenging disease targets.”
Other potential treatments in Redx’s portfolio that could benefit from the new funding include one for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and another which has the potential to be a first-in-class treatment for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease.
