MELBOURNE, Australia & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX:CXS - News) (NASDAQ:CXSP - News) announced today the successful completion of a A$12.9 million capital raising through a share placement to institutional and sophisticated investors (15,216,153 shares at $0.85 per share). In addition to the placement, ChemGenex is offering eligible shareholders the ability to purchase shares in ChemGenex under a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) (detailed below).
The placement was anchored by a commitment of A$6.5 million by existing major shareholders Alta Partners, GBS Venture Partners and Merck Santé (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA). These three shareholders have increased or maintained their respective percentage holdings in ChemGenex. Other institutional investors with expertise in the biotechnology sector also made significant investments.
Funds raised will be applied to the continued clinical trial program for the Company’s lead oncology drug candidate, omacetaxine.
“We are delighted to have successfully completed this placement given the current financial market conditions,” said Greg Collier, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ChemGenex. “The placement will secure the company’s financial position as we progress to complete clinical trials and the rolling new drug application (NDA) submission of omacetaxine to the FDA. We are on course to complete enrollments for the clinical section of our regulatory filing by the end of 2008, to file the CMC section of our rolling NDA submission at the end of Q1, 2009, and to complete our rolling NDA submission in mid 2009. These are all critical milestones in the development and commercialisation strategy for omacetaxine.”
“We are very pleased with the positive data from both of our phase 2/3 clinical trials of omacetaxine in drug-resistant CML patients, and this funding will allow us to progress towards completion of the clinical trials and regulatory submissions,” Dr Collier added.
Share Purchase Plan (SPP) Details
Under the SPP, ChemGenex will offer eligible shareholders the opportunity to participate on the same terms as the institutional investors by purchasing up to $5,000 of ChemGenex ordinary shares at $0.85 per share without incurring brokerage or transaction costs. Eligible shareholders are those shareholders with an Australian address registered as at 7pm on the record date of September 17, 2008.
Eligible Shareholders will be sent an Offer letter and Share Purchase Plan documents to enable them to further consider this offer.
The shares have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. About ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (http://www.chemgenex.com) ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical development company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by developing personalized oncology medicines. ChemGenex harnesses the power of genomics both to discover novel targets and drug compounds, and in clinical trials to develop more individualized treatment outcomes. ChemGenex’s lead compound, omacetaxine mepesuccinate (formerly known as Ceflatonin®), is currently in phase 2/3 clinical trials for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). ChemGenex has a second anticancer compound, amonafide dihydrochloride (formerly known as Quinamed®) which is in phase 2 clinical development for various solid cancers, and a portfolio of assets in pre-clinical development. ChemGenex currently trades on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol “CXS” and on NASDAQ under the symbol “CXSP”.
Details on the clinical trials can be accessed from the following websites:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00375219?term= homoharringtonine&rank=9 and http://www.tkiresistantcmltrials.com (Due to its length, the first URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser’s address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements made herein that use the words “estimate”, “project”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, risks or uncertainties associated with the development of the company’s technology, the ability to successfully market products in the clinical pipeline, the ability to advance promising therapeutics through clinical trials, the ability to establish our fully integrated technologies, the ability to enter into additional collaborations and strategic alliances and expand current collaborations and obtain milestone payments, the suitability of internally discovered genes for drug development, the ability of the company to meet its financial requirements, the ability of the company to protect its proprietary technology, potential limitations on the company’s technology, the market for the company’s products, government regulation in Australia and the United States, changes in tax and other laws, changes in competition and the loss of key personnel. These statements are based on our management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties that could change the results described in the forward-looking statements. Investors should be aware that there are no assurances that results will not differ from those projected.
Contact:
ChemGenex Dr. Greg Collier Cell (Australia): +61 419 897 501 Cell (USA): +1-650-200-8145 CEO and Managing Director gcollier@chemgenex.com or Media Relations – Australia Buchan Consulting Rebecca Wilson, +61 2 9237 2800 Cell: + 61 (0) 417 382 391 rwilson@bcg.com.au or Media Relations – USA Kureczka/Martin Associates Joan Kureczka, +1-415-821-2413 Jkureczka@comcast.net
Source: ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited
