Scancell Holdings PLC (AIM:SCLP, OTC:SCNLF) received a pre-Christmas surprise after it had to significantly upsize its oversubscribed City fundraiser.
Initially seeking £6 million via the stock sale, it brought in £10.7 million. And, in a period where growth companies have been forced to take significant haircuts when placing new shares, the drug developer was in the happy position of selling newly minted shares at a comparatively modest 10.2% discount.
"This oversubscribed and upsized placing, led by new institutional and life science specialist investors, and our existing investors, Redmile Group and Vulpes Investment Management, further strengthens Scancell's financial position and ability to increase shareholder value, and we thank them for their support," said chief executive, professor Lindy Durrant.
It could receive a further £2 million if an open offer of new stock is filled. The proceeds will be used to continue the exciting work on its SCIB 1/SCIB + development programmes.
Earlier this week, researchers shared highly encouraging results from a group of hard-to-treat melanoma patients. The new investment will also be deployed to keep up the clinical momentum with its Modi-1 programme.
"The funds raised today will further drive the company's progress with its lead programmes, including SCIB1, which recently demonstrated an unprecedented objective response rate of 85% in patients with unresectable melanoma in initial data from the SCOPE study, and Modi-1 through its next clinical steps," said Durrant.
"Scancell is now positioned to realise the value of its near-term data inflexion points, including the SCOPE study read out in H1 2024, as well as potential licensing opportunities across its diversified pipeline of cancer vaccines and therapeutic antibody technologies."