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REHOVOT, Israel, August 17REHOVOT, Israel, August 17 /PRNewswire/ -- D-Pharm announced today the completion of a financial round, which yielded NIS 85 million (approximately $23M USD) to fund the Company's late stage clinical stroke program. The financial round combined a rights offering of NIS 57 million and an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of NIS 28 million. The IPO was oversubscribed and the unit price was set at 133 NIS, 13% higher than the minimum price. The company's pre-money valuation was NIS 120 million.
D-Pharm will commit most of the proceeds of the rights issue and the IPO towards the forthcoming pivotal Phase III clinical trial of DP-b99 in patients with acute ischemic stroke (study acronym - MACSI). An Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the Phase III clinical trial of DP-b99 was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2009. The trial will enroll 770 patients with moderately severe ischemic stroke in more than 100 medical centers in North America, Europe, South Africa and Israel.
Clal Biotechnology CEO and D-Pharm's Chairman of the Board Ruben Krupik said: "This is a unique offering because the current shareholders provided most of the financing. We gave the public the opportunity to participate, while taking most of the risk upon ourselves."
D-Pharm's CEO, Dr. Alex Kozak, said: "Now we are set to move full steam ahead with the Phase III study of DP-b99. I am happy to see Israeli public sector investors supporting an advanced clinical stage company like D-Pharm. I hope that our IPO opens the door to the flotation of other companies, especially in the biotech industry".
The offering was underwritten by CLAL Finance Underwriting Ltd., as well as Rosario Underwriting Services (AS) Ltd. and Meitav Underwriting and Investment Ltd.
About DP-b99
DP-b99 is a unique neuroprotective drug that addresses an array of brain damaging processes occurring in stroke patients and emerged from D-Pharm's proprietary Membrane Activated Chelator (MAC) platform technology. Both preclinical and clinical Phase I and II studies indicate a favorable efficacy and safety profile for DP-b99. In the recently completed Phase IIb trial in 150 ischemic stroke patients, DP-b99 increased by two-fold the percentage of patients that completely recovered from ischemic stroke. DP-b99 may be administered within a nine hour therapeutic window.
About Stroke
Every year around 1.5 million people in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan suffer an acute stroke. Stroke is a leading cause of death in the western world and around 50% of stroke survivors suffer from some form of severe disability. According to the American Heart Association (AHA) the annual economic burden of stroke in the U.S. is approaching $70B USD in 2009. Currently, between 2-5% of stroke patients receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the only drug currently approved for treatment of acute stroke in the U.S.
About D-Pharm Ltd.
D-Pharm http://www.dpharm.com) is a clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of lipid-like therapeutics and has generated a rich pipeline of patent protected proprietary products. D-Pharm's pipeline includes advanced clinical stage products, DP-b99 for treatment of acute ischemic stroke patients and DP-VPA, a novel drug for treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and prophylaxis of migraine. DP-VPA, a prodrug of valproic acid, is in Phase II clinical development. DP-460 is in preclinical development intended as an oral, disease-modifying therapy for Alzheimer's disease. Other mimics of bioactive lipids, LipidoMimetix, are at an earlier developmental stage, for cancer.
Disclaimer
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information, as defined in the Securities Law, based on information available to D-Pharm at the time of this press release. The estimations could, some or all, be unrealized, or could be realized in significantly different ways than expected. Additional information regarding these and other risks can be found in the Company's registration statement relating to the proposed offering.
For further information please contact: Tami Horovitz Tel: +972-8-9385100 Fax: +972-8-9300795 Email: thorovitz@dpharm.com
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