(Sharecast News) - Investment company Limitless Earth has made a further investment in Chronix Biomedical, a developer of novel blood-based cancer molecular diagnostics, of approximately $0.1m, it announced on Friday.
The AIM-traded firm had previously announced an investment in Chronix on 8 October 2015 of $0.5m (£0.33m) by way of convertible preference stock at a price of 40 US cents per share, at a valuation of around $69m.
It described Chronix as a privately-owned biotech company founded in 1997, which specialised in simple blood tests for real-time monitoring of the effectiveness of cancer drugs, including immunotherapies, and the rejection of transplanted organs.
The cancer test was based on a patented technology whereby it could identify gains and losses in cell-free DNA, that allowed them to determine if a cancer therapy was working.
It said the patented transplant surveillance test allowed the company to determine if the organ that was transplanted was being accepted or rejected, and thereby allowed the physician to alter the immunosuppressive drug regimen given to the patient.
Chronix held 13 patents granted or allowed in North America and Europe.
"Since the company's first investment, Chronix signed it first commercial agreement in June 2018 with Amedes Medical Services, a large EU-based lab group which already processes more than 150,000 laboratory samples daily, providing an exclusive licence for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium," the Limitless Earth board said in its statement.
"The contract is for 15 years and independent research analysts have estimated the net present value of the licensing payments to Chronix over the life of the agreement to be approximately $92 million."
It said Chronix was also currently negotiating further license agreements with a number of other entities.
"Chronix is raising funds in order to provide it with additional working capital to advance several clinical trials, defend its intellectual property portfolio and to allow the company to further commercialisation of products in Europe and North America."
The company said its further investment in Chronix comprised a $0.1m unsecured convertible promissory note with an interest rate of 6% per annum.
It said the principal and all accrued and unpaid interest was due upon the earlier of either immediately prior to the completion of a corporate transaction, the company having net cash reserves of at least $2,5m, 21 September 2021, or in the event of default by Chronix.
Limitless Earth (LME)6 Dec 2023 15:13