Imagion Biosystems announced that it has secured firm commitments for AU$3.75 million, or about US$2.59 million, in new capital.
The financing follows the FDA’s clearance of the company’s IND application for a Phase 2 clinical trial of its MagSense imaging agent in HER2+ breast cancer.
The company said the raise will fund the start of the clinical trial. Imagion has already begun trial activation activities and expects to begin patient recruitment later this year.
The capital raise was led by CPS Capital Group through a two-tranche placement. Imagion said investor support exceeded expectations.
Tranche 1 will consist of a placement of 49.3 million new shares at AU$0.012 per share, raising AU$592,000 through the company’s existing placement capacity.
Tranche 2 will include the remaining shares, representing about AU$3.2 million, subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting.
MagSense is Imagion’s molecular MRI imaging technology. Conventional MRI can identify regions of interest based on anatomical or morphological features, but Imagion said it cannot reliably differentiate benign from malignant tumors without molecular specificity.
MagSense uses targeted nanoparticles designed to increase imaging specificity and help clinicians make cancer diagnoses with greater certainty.
Imagion said the MagSense platform has potential applications beyond HER2+ breast cancer. The company has conducted preclinical studies of additional imaging agents targeting prostate and ovarian cancers.
Imagion Biosystems is a clinical-stage imaging company developing MRI technology designed to detect cancer earlier and with greater precision using non-radioactive, bio-safe magnetic nanoparticles.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are very pleased with the strong demand we saw from investors following our milestone achievement of receiving clearance from the FDA for our MagSense imaging to proceed with the clinical trial. The successful submission of the IND represents a major technical and organizational accomplishment for the company. With this kind of shareholder support we can continue to advance our MagSense molecular imaging technology and change how cancer is detected.”
Robert Proulx, Executive Chairman of Imagion Biosystems
