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(Alliance News) - Verici Dx PLC on Wednesday said it had undergone a fundraise to support the development and commercialisation of its range of clinical products.
Verici is a Cardiff, Wales-based company, which develops advanced clinical diagnostics for organ transplants. Shares in Verici were down 9.0% at 9.10 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, the company completed a GBP5.5 million fundraise through an accelerated bookbuild placing of 61.1 million new shares at 9p each. This represented an 11% discount of Verici's closing mid-market price on January 23.
Verici expects the shares to be admitted to trading on February 20.
In addition, Verici proposed a separate conditional retail offer for existing shareholders at the same issue price, details of which will be announced on Friday.
Verici said that the fundraise proceeds will be used to support the development and commercialisation of its Clarava pre-transplant prognostic test for risk of early kidney rejection.
In November, Verici signed an exclusive global licensing agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc to further develop Clarava, which included a payment of USD5 million to be paid over the 12 months following the agreement. While the licence deal has increased Verici's cash resources and runway, it intends to devote more resources to the test's development.
Proceeds will also go towards increased analysis and "strengthen the positioning" of its unlicensed portfiolio products, Tutivia and Protega.
Verici said that the placing and retail offers will provide the "certainty of funds" necessary to pursue these projects, extending its cash runway into 2026.
In early January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency within the US Department of Health, confirmed clinical laboratory fee schedule rates for both the Tutivia and Clarava tests at USD2,650. The group said that having a rate established by the CMMS "represents a step toward securing reimbursement for testing by Medicare", which covers around 63.9 million patients in the US.
"The directors consider that the investment of the net proceeds of the fundraising has the potential to amplify the clinical adoption of all of the company's products through the generation of a greater number of, and/or stronger, claims with regard to their application and utility," Verici added.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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