Scancell Holdings PLC (AIM:SCLP, OTC:SCNLF, FRA:SCP) confirmed the UK leg of its equity funding has raised gross proceeds of £15.7 million after strong retail demand prompted the cancer immunotherapy developer to increase the size of its retail offer.
The retail offer raised £2.7 million, above the original £2.3 million target. Allocations were scaled back because of demand, with preference given to existing shareholders.
It comes as Scancell is executing a transformative deal that will see the Oxford-based immunotherapy developer merge with US biotech Neuphoria Therapeutics to create a dual-listed group 85.5% owned by Scancell shareholders.
As part of the deal announced last Thursday, Scancell said it planned to raise up to $89 million through a mix of equity and debt to fund a global registrational phase III trial of its lead treatment in advanced melanoma.
Commitments have been secured from new and existing shareholders for a private placement of $39.1 million (£29.2 million) and the UK placing and retail offer was launched, with new shares priced at 9p each.
Scancell has also signed a non-binding term sheet with funds managed by BlackRock for debt financing of up to $25 million.
Completion of the merger is expected to bring at least a further $10 million into the enlarged group from Neuphoria's own cash balances.
The new company's lead asset, iSCIB1+, is an off-the-shelf immunotherapy designed to prompt the patient's own immune system to attack tumour cells.
It has fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration, a status intended to speed the review of treatments addressing serious conditions.
Data from the mid-stage SCOPE study showed 77% progression-free survival at 22 months when the treatment was combined with the established checkpoint drugs ipilimumab and nivolumab.
Further progression-free and overall survival data from that study are expected within the next 12 months.
The financing is intended to carry the phase III trial through to its primary readout in the second half of 2028 and to extend the group's cash runway into 2029.
