Immupharma Regulatory News (IMM)

21 Dec 2006 07:01

Immupharma PLC21 December 2006 ImmuPharma PLC ImmuPharma raises €7 million to advance programmes For release at 7am on 21 December 2006 ImmuPharma PLC (LSE:IMM), ("ImmuPharma" or the "Company") the specialist drugdiscovery and development company, announced today that it has successfullyraised just over €7 million (£4.71m) through the issue of new shares and aninterest free unsecured Bond with warrants. The new funds will be invested in the development of the Company's clinical andpreclinical pipeline, of which the principal current assets include IPP-201101,a long-term treatment for Lupus, the life threatening auto immune disease whichis due to commence Phase II/III trials in 2007. ImmuPharma has issued 4,350,000 new ordinary shares at a price of 62p each,raising £2.697m from funds managed by Jupiter, Martin Currie and Powe Capital byway of a Placing. Application has been made to London Stock Exchange plc for theadmission of the new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. In addition, ING Belgium ("ING") has agreed to advance €3,000,000 to theCompany's wholly owned subsidiary, ImmuPharma France SA, by way of a Bond whichis interest free and unsecured, and ImmuPharma has issued Warrants whereby INGmay subscribe €3,000,000 for 3,245,280 new ImmuPharma plc shares at any timeduring the three years ending 31 December 2009. At the Euro/Sterling exchangerate when these financing arrangements were agreed, the effective subscriptionprice of the Warrants is 62p per share. There are arrangements in place toensure that the Warrants are exercised to fund the repayment or buy-back of theBond when required. Following the share issue referred to above, ImmuPharma now has 72,488,149ordinary shares of 10p each in issue, each of which entitles the holder to castone vote in general meetings. Richard Warr, Chairman, said: "We are delighted that our progress over the lastyear has led to institutional demand for ImmuPharma shares. We are pleased towelcome our new investors and thank our existing shareholders for theircontinuing support." Dr. Robert Zimmer, President & Chief Scientific Officer said: "This placingcomes at a very good time for ImmuPharma and ensures that we can maintain themomentum on all our promising development programmes." For further information please contact: ImmuPharma PLCDimitri Dimitriou, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0) 20 7152 4080Richard Warr, Chairman +44 (0) 20 7152 4080Dr Robert Zimmer, President & Chief Scientific Officer +33 (0) 389 32 76 50 Dawnay, Day Corporate Finance Limited, Nominated adviserDavid Floyd +44 (0) 20 7509 4570 Buchanan Communications Lisa Baderoon + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000 Notes to Editors: About ImmuPharma ImmuPharma PLC is a drug discovery and development company headquartered inLondon, UK and quoted on AIM of the London Stock Exchange (LSE:IMM). It hasresearch operations in France (ImmuPharma (France) SA) and Switzerland(ImmuPharma AG). ImmuPharma is dedicated to the development of novel drugs,largely based on peptide therapeutics, to treat serious medical conditions suchas autoimmune diseases characterised by: •blockbuster potential in niche markets •low promotional costs in few specialised physicians and centres and •lower risk of drug development and lower development costs ImmuPharma is a currently developing drug candidates for three different medicalconditions, each of which would represent a significant breakthrough in itsfield. The furthest advanced drug candidate targets Lupus, a disease for whichthere is currently no cure or specific treatment. The other two address moderateto severe pain (such as that experienced by cancer sufferers and post-operativepatients), and MRSA and similar severe hospital-acquired resistant infections. All three have significant sales potential as well as low marketing costs and arelatively low risk of development failure. One or more have the potential to befast-tracked by the US Food and Drug Administration according to "Guidance forIndustry: Fast Track Drug Development Programs - Designation, Development andApplication Review" issued July 2004 and could therefore obtain their marketauthorization by 2010. Key to the potential success of ImmuPharma is its unique collaborative agreementwith Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France's scientific researchinstitution. This agreement grants ImmuPharma worldwide exclusive rights toexploit certain key discoveries. In addition to its three leading drug candidates, ImmuPharma has a drugdevelopment pipeline using its rights to a virtual chemical library of hundredsof thousands of molecules as well as an innovative technology for convertingpeptides to drug candidates. ImmuPharma has the option to commercialise its assets itself or to license themto other pharmaceutical companies at an earlier stage. The products Treatment of Lupus (IPP-201101) This is a long-term treatment for Lupus, a chronic, life-threatening autoimmunedisease where the immune system attacks healthy cells. There is currently nocure and existing medications only treat the symptoms whereas ImmuPharma's drugcandidate has the potential to produce remission of the disease in a substantialproportion of patients. Based on independent forecasts, the value of ImmuPharma's Lupus drug isestimated to be "substantial" with peak annual sales forecast to generate inexcess of $4 billion. Severe pain relief (IPP-102199) ImmuPharma is developing a potential non-addictive compound for relievingmoderate to severe pain, such as experienced by cancer sufferers andpost-surgical patients. Most existing treatments are derived from the opiatemorphine and tend to have serious side effects. ImmuPharma's new treatment isbased on met-enkephalin, the body's internal analgesic. IPP-102199 is beingdeveloped to have major advantages over morphine such as longer pain reliefduration and reduced side effects. The market for chronic opioids in the UScurrently exceeds $3.5 billion and is growing by more than 10 to 20 per cent ayear. Antibiotic for MRSA and similar highly resistant infections (IPP-203101) This is a novel antibiotic to counter the effects of MRSA and other severehospital-acquired, resistant infections which affect some two million people inthe US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.ImmuPharma's drug candidate uniquely uses an electrical charge rather thanbiochemical methods against MRSA and other bacterial strains. It is hoped thisnovel approach will reduce their potential to become resistant. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange