Arovella Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ALA) has secured the funding necessary to carry out its Phase 1 clinical trials on invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cell therapy platform treatment ALA-101, assessing its effect in patients with CD19-positive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The company received firm commitments to raise $12.5 million in a share placement, with interest from institutional and sophisticated investors to the tune of 125 million shares.
This placement was at A$0.10 per share with an attaching 1-for-1 option with an exercise price of $0.15, a 50% premium to the placement price, and an exercise period of three years.
The pricing of the placement represents a 23.1% discount to the company's last traded market price on the ASX on Thursday, March 21, 2024, being A$0.13.
"A pivotal time"
“This is a pivotal time for Arovella, which continues to be a global pioneer in developing CAR-iNKT cell therapeutics,” Arovella Therapeutics chair Dr Thomas Duthy said.
“The level of support for the placement from well-known, global institutional investors highlights the potential of our highly differentiated cell therapy platform and our significant progress to date.
“It provides us with the capital to execute our goals, notably to assess the clinical benefit of our proprietary CAR-iNKT cells in cancer patients.”
Several milestones in crosshairs
ALA intends to achieve some ambitious milestones in the next 12 months, including:
- Completing scale-up of its CAR-iNKT manufacturing process for ALA-101 and manufacturing ALA-101 for clinical trials;
- Completing Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling non-clinical safety and efficacy studies;
- Securing regulatory approval to conduct a Phase 1 clinical trial in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma;
- Commencing a Phase 1 clinical trial in Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; and
- Obtaining data from initial CD19+ lymphoma and leukemia patients dosed with ALA-101.
“We have continued to scour the globe and cement our position in the iNKT cell space by acquiring IP that bolsters our iNKT cell pipeline and sets us apart in the sector,” Arovella Therapeutics managing director and CEO Dr Michael Baker said.
“I am thrilled with the level of support that we have received from several investors and we are tremendously excited to take ALA-101 into the clinic and assess its impact on patients with CD19+ blood cancers.
“This is an exciting time for Arovella, and we look forward to building on our success and creating value for all our shareholders.”
MST and Blue Ocean Equities acted as joint lead managers to the placement.