A short story - with what I hope will be a happy ending24 Mar 2023 12:08
Part 1 of 2
I discovered a special company back in 2020 – It’s a small (Pre clinical) Biotech with Big ambitions.
It continues to amaze with it’s science – I don’t recall one occasion in three years where the science has disappointed
During this time, It has been working on three different clinical candidates:
Two of which aim to provide a much needed treatment for patients who suffer from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). Every day in the USA alone, 70 people are diagnosed with AML and 50 of those unfortunately die of the disease
The third, whilst exploring a solution to COVID-19. this company has devised a way to not only eradicate COVID, but it also has proof of concept to cure every virus it has been tested against so far: Dengue, Ebola, Marburg, Zika and Chikungunya
Just to recap – the company has not encountered any material backward steps in 3 years from a science perspective – all three clinical candidates are moving forwards positively
The market value of this company increased from £10m to ‘over £60m’ in 2020; Long term investors, Traders and probably small specialist funds all took interest.
The current market value has been impacted by a regrettable funding event in November 2020. A £60m Convertible Loan agreement was entered into with Mint Finance; The company were led to believe that this was backed by long term investors with a genuine interest in the company. This proved NOT the case; Mint choosing to convert immediately on multiple occasions in the following 6 months - flooding the market with new shares.
The company TERMINATED the entire agreement in May 2021 – just 6 months later. However, it did provide enough funding to prioritise it’s lead clinical candidate; enough to take it through Phase 1 trials – and avoid the necessity to raise funds for up to 2 years. Therefore, it is now consigned to history and no longer a concern for investors.
Throughout 2021/22 the market value of this company was in the region of £10m again – valued at little over cash; Significantly misaligned to the market value that long term investors attributed to this company.
The share price sprung back to life at the end of 2022and into January 2023. The market value increased from £10m to ‘over £35m’ in January 2023; buoyed by . The material re-rate in share price presented an opportunity for this company to raise £4m in a difficult market – the raise was conducted swiftly and efficiently at a share price +60% higher when it raised fund to terminate the Mint agreement.