REG - e-Therapeutics plc - Proposed Fundraise of £28.9m and Cancellation

E-TherapeuticsAnnouncement

10/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 9405J  e-Therapeutics plc  10 April 2024

 

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. With the publication of this
announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is
now considered to be in the public domain.

 

e-therapeutics plc

("e-therapeutics" or "ETX" or the "Company")

 

Proposed fundraise of £28.90 million by way of a Share Subscription

 

Proposed cancellation of admission of Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM

and Notice of General Meeting

 

 

London, UK, 10 April 2024 - e-therapeutics plc (AIM: ETX), a company
integrating computational power and biological data to discover
life-transforming RNAi medicines, today announces:

 

-     a proposed fundraise of £28.90 million before expenses by way of a
subscription for 192,666,667 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each ("Ordinary
Shares") in the Company (the "Subscription Shares") at a price of 15p per
Ordinary Share (the "Subscription Price") by funds managed by M&G
Investment Management Limited ("M&G") and Richard Griffiths and his
controlled undertakings ("Richard Griffiths") (together the "Subscribers"),
existing shareholders of the Company (the "Subscription"); and

 

-     the proposed cancellation of admission of its Ordinary Shares to
trading on AIM ("Cancellation").

 

The Company has a current cash position of approximately £18 million and the
gross proceeds from the proposed fundraise of £28.90 million will
considerably strengthen its balance sheet. In addition, the Company has an
intention to cancel its admission to AIM and subsequently explore the option
of listing on NASDAQ in due course.

 

The Subscription and the Cancellation are conditional upon, inter alia,
shareholder approval which will be sought at a forthcoming general meeting to
be held at 12:30 p.m. on 29 April 2024 at the Company's office at Unit 4B,
Floor 4, 4 Kingdom Street, Paddington Central, London, W2 6BD ("General
Meeting"). The Company will therefore be posting a circular to shareholders
("Circular") convening the general meeting and seeking shareholder authority
in relation to the proposed Subscription (the "Share Authority Resolutions")
and Cancellation (the "Cancellation Resolution") later today. The Company has
received irrevocable undertakings from the Subscribers, representing
approximately 46.68 per cent. of the Company's existing Ordinary Shares (the
"Existing Ordinary Shares"), to vote in favour of the Share Authority
Resolutions and the Cancellation Resolution (together, the "Resolutions").
Additionally, the Directors have indicated their intention to vote their
entire holdings in favour of the Resolutions which amount to interests in
52,735,562 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 9.0 per cent. of the
Existing Ordinary Shares.

 

The Circular will set out the background to and reasons for the proposed
Cancellation, additional information on the implications of the Cancellation
for the Company and its shareholders and why the Board believes it to be in
the best interests of the Company and of the shareholders as a whole.

 

Ali Mortazavi, CEO of e-therapeutics plc, said:

 

"For over a year, the Board has been contemplating delisting from the AIM
market. However, given the dramatic rise in the US biotech indices in Q3 2023
which has seen record amounts of capital being raised, we decided to remain on
the AIM market and embarked on a capital raise roadshow in February-March
2024. Despite the firm commitments given by our two largest shareholders, the
Board was extremely disappointed by the lack of institutional UK interest in
our innovative, technology-driven value propositions. Importantly, ETX
struggled to get sufficient engagement from the vast majority of the
institutions who were approached, reflecting the risk appetite of the UK
markets. This trend has been a consistent theme over the last four years and
the Company has primarily raised funds through the current two key
shareholders, who continue to support the Company irrespective of its listing
status. As such, we believe that there is a limited available audience on the
AIM market for companies such as ETX.

 

"The Board believes that the current valuation of ETX in no way reflects the
Company's position as a leading TechBio company, with powerful enabling
technologies both on our computational and genetic medicines platforms, and a
maturing pipeline of differentiated RNAi assets. ETX is active and has
specialist expertise in the most disruptive and attractive areas in biotech.
However, it is the Board's view that there could be a far larger pool of
capital available as an unlisted company as opposed to an AIM listed one and
that this situation is very unlikely to change in the near future.

 

"We understand that there will be a short-term reduction in liquidity as a
result of this decision but we are of the firm belief that it is in the best
interest of all shareholders to delist from the AIM market, with a strong cash
position of approximately £47 million following this fundraise. We have also
stated our willingness to explore relisting the Company in the future on the
US NASDAQ exchange where the large gap in the valuation of ETX compared to its
US peers can hopefully be narrowed. I would also like to take this opportunity
to thank both Richard Griffiths and M&G for their continued support and we
look forward to regularly updating shareholders on our progress."

 

 

Information on the Subscription

 

The Subscription and Related Party Transactions

 

The Company has conditionally raised gross proceeds of £28.90 million through
the issue of 192,666,667 Subscription Shares at the Subscription Price to
M&G and Richard Griffiths pursuant to the terms of the Subscription
Letters. The Subscription Price of 15 pence represents a premium of
approximately 30 per cent. to the closing mid-market price of 11.55 pence per
Ordinary Share on 8 April 2024, the latest practicable date prior to the
publication of the Circular.

 

The Subscription is, inter alia, conditional upon the passing of the Share
Authority Resolutions at the General Meeting and regulatory approval.
Specifically, the Subscription by M&G is conditional upon clearance under
the National Security and Investment Act 2021 ("NSIA"), by either the
Secretary of State: (i) having notified the parties pursuant to the NSIA that
no further action will be taken in relation to the Subscription; or (ii)
making a final order under the NSIA in respect of the Subscription, the
provisions of which would allow completion of the Subscription on terms
reasonably satisfactory to M&G. The Richard Griffiths Subscription and the
M&G Subscription are each conditional on the occurrence of the other, so
the intention is that they will complete at the same time.

 

M&G and Richard Griffiths are both substantial shareholders (as defined in
the AIM Rules for Companies) in the Company, therefore each of their
subscriptions are deemed to be related party transactions under the AIM Rules.
Accordingly, the directors who are independent of both M&G and Richard
Griffiths, being Ali Mortazavi and Trevor Jones, consider, having consulted
with the Company's nominated adviser, SP Angel, that the terms of the
participation of each of M&G and Richard Griffiths in the Subscription
are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

 

Michael Bretherton is a director of certain entities that are controlled
undertakings of Richard Griffiths and he is not, therefore, deemed independent
of the Richard Griffiths Subscription given his association with Richard
Griffiths.

 

 

 Use of proceeds

 

With a current cash position of approximately £18 million together with gross
proceeds from the fundraise of £28.90 million, the Company will advance
multiple GalOmic™ pipeline assets towards the clinic and initiate clinical
trials on one program. The Company also plans to use the proceeds to keep its
early pipeline well populated by pursuing further candidates. The strengthened
cash position will enable the accelerated development and integration of
cutting-edge AI systems into HepNet™. Additionally, the Company will explore
the option of listing on NASDAQ in due course, if it is felt that the Company
has made sufficient progress and that such a course of action would be
beneficial. There is no certainty that such a listing will be achievable in
any given time frame.

 

Subscribers and participation by the Subscribers in the Subscription

 

The Company's largest Shareholder is Richard Griffiths, who currently is
interested in, in aggregate, 170,889,967 Ordinary Shares, held both directly
and through his controlled undertakings, representing approximately 29.25 per
cent. of the Existing Ordinary Shares. The Company's second largest
Shareholder is M&G which is currently interested in, in aggregate,
101,875,000 Ordinary Shares on behalf of clients representing approximately
17.43 per cent. of the Existing Ordinary Shares. The aggregate interests of
the Subscribers comprise 272,764,967 Ordinary Shares representing
approximately 46.68 per cent. of the Existing Ordinary Shares.

 

Richard Griffiths has subscribed for 61,666,667 Subscription Shares pursuant
to the Subscription. M&G has subscribed for 131,000,000 Subscription
Shares pursuant to the Subscription.

 

The table below sets out the proposed participation in the Subscription, along
with current shareholdings of the Subscribers as well as their resulting
interests in the Ordinary Shares of the Company.

 

 Subscriber         Holding prior to participation in the Subscription      Number of Subscription Shares subscribed for  Holding immediately following Admission of the Subscription Shares
                    Number of Ordinary Shares   % of issued share capital   Number of Ordinary Shares                     Number of Ordinary Shares           % of issued share capital
 Richard Griffiths  170,889,967                 29.25                       61,666,667                                    232,556,634                         29.93
 M&G                101,875,000                 17.43                       131,000,000                                   232,875,000                         29.97

 

The Company is grateful for the continued support of its Shareholders, and in
particular the Subscribers. Following Cancellation, the Directors are
conscious that certain protections expected for substantial minority
shareholders in a non-listed company might differ from the norms of governance
applicable to a company publicly traded on AIM. In particular, pursuant to the
terms of the Subscription Letters, the Company has agreed with each Subscriber
separately to:

·      provide limited representations and warranties in relation to the
affairs of the Company;

 

·      provide each Subscriber with certain agreed financial information
on a recurring basis (e.g. monthly management accounts and periodic accounts);

 

·      provide each Subscriber with a right to nominate up to two
non-executive directors to the board of the Company for so long as that
Subscriber holds at least 15 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of
the Company from time to time, or one non-executive director while that
Subscriber holds at least 5 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of
the Company from time to time); and

 

·      enter into good faith negotiations to agree such protections for
the Subscribers as are customary for a significant minority shareholder in a
company of a similar nature to the Company, which shall include (without
limitation) customary veto rights for that Subscriber in respect of certain
matters undertaken by the Company (subject always to obtaining requisite
shareholder approval should any such proposals involve, for example, any
amendment to the Company's articles of association).

 

 

Admission, settlement and dealings

 

If the Cancellation Resolution is passed, no application will be made to the
London Stock Exchange for the Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on
AIM. An application will only be made to the London Stock Exchange for the
Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM should the Cancellation
Resolution not be passed.

 

Following the allotment and issue of the Subscription Shares, the Company's
enlarged issued share capital will comprise 777,002,154 Ordinary Shares of
0.1 pence each with voting rights in the Company. This figure may be used by
shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which
they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a
change in the interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's
Disclosure and Transparency Rules, whilst the Company remains listed on AIM.

 

Upon their issue, the Subscription Shares will represent approximately 24.80
per cent. of the Enlarged Share Capital.

 

The Subscription Shares will, upon their issue, rank pari passu with the
Existing Ordinary Shares.

 

Information on the Cancellation

 

Background to and reasons for the Cancellation

 

ETX integrates computational power and biological information to discover
life-transforming RNAi medicines. The Company's technology uses computation to
model human biology, identify novel targets, and develop RNAi medicines
against those targets that can be rapidly progressed to the clinic.

 

ETX's proprietary HepNet™ platform enables the generation and analysis of
biological network models, providing a novel and mechanistic approach to drug
discovery. This approach explicitly considers the true complexity of biology
to make more reliable predictions from large complex data sets and ETX's
proprietary hepatocyte knowledgebase. HepNet™ enables the Company to make
better medicines faster through generation of novel insights and increased
automation across all stages of drug development.

 

GalOmic™, ETX's proprietary RNAi platform, enables targeted delivery to
hepatocytes in the liver and the specific silencing of novel
disease-associated genes, identified by HepNet™. The focus on hepatocytes
offers the opportunity to tackle a wide variety of diseases. The liver is a
highly metabolically active organ which performs a key role in many biological
processes and vital functions crucial for human health. ETX's GalOmic™
constructs have demonstrated compelling in vivo performance in terms of depth
of gene silencing and duration of action.

 

The Company is prosecuting a pipeline of first-in-class RNAi candidates across
a variety of therapeutic areas with high unmet need, including preclinical
programs in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), dry
age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD), haemophilia, cardiometabolic
disease, and other undisclosed indications. The Company is currently
progressing its lead assets, ETX-312 for MASH and ETX-407 for dry AMD, through
IND-enabling studies. ETX has also partnered with biopharma companies such as
Novo Nordisk, Galapagos NV, and iTeos Therapeutics using its computational
network biology approach across a diverse range of drug discovery projects.

 

The Directors are of the belief that the ETX team has made significant
progress to date with an extremely limited R&D spend and that this
progress has been possible due to the deep domain expertise that the team has
in the fields of RNAi and AI. However, the Company is operating under a
material disadvantage compared to US peers who have access to significantly
larger balance sheets.

 

Despite the firm commitments given by the Company's two largest shareholders
and the dramatic rise in the US biotech indices in Q3 2023 which has seen
record amounts of capital being raised, during a recent capital-raise roadshow
the Directors found a lack of institutional UK interest in the Company's
innovative, technology-driven value propositions. Importantly, ETX struggled
to get sufficient engagement from the vast majority of the institutions who
were approached, reflecting the risk appetite of the UK markets. This trend
has been a consistent theme over the last four years and the Company has
primarily raised funds through the current two key shareholders, who continue
to support the Company irrespective of its listing status.

 

The Directors have therefore undertaken a review to evaluate the benefits and
drawbacks to the Company and its Shareholders of retaining the admission to
trading of the Ordinary Shares on AIM and believe that Cancellation is in the
best interests of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole.

 

The Directors consider that the key drawbacks of retaining the Company's
listing on AIM include the following:

 

·      the UK public markets have changed significantly with a
significant reduction in liquidity, access to capital and institutional
interest in the biotechnology/tech growth sector. The Directors believe that
the Company's current public market valuation does not accurately reflect the
Company's value and is in fact a material hindrance to the Company's plans and
ambitions;

 

·      feedback from potential investors has been that they would not
invest in ETX in its current status as an AIM listed company and that ETX
would be a far more attractive proposition for them as an unlisted company.
Furthermore, the Directors are of the view that there could be a far larger
pool of available capital as an unlisted company as opposed to an AIM listed
one;

 

·      ETX intends to use the proceeds from this capital raise to
progress multiple pipeline candidates, advance its AI-driven computational
platform and to list on the US NASDAQ exchange in due course. The Directors
are of the belief that such a listing could have the potential to
significantly narrow what they perceive to be an existing valuation gap with
US peers, alongside significant secondary market liquidity;

 

·      there has been limited liquidity in the Ordinary Shares for some
time and, as a result, the Directors believe that continued admission to
trading on AIM no longer sufficiently provides the Company with the advantage
of providing wider or more cost-effective access to capital in the medium to
longer-term;

 

·      as a result of the limited liquidity in Ordinary Shares
highlighted above, the listing of the Ordinary Shares on AIM does not
necessarily offer investors the opportunity to trade in meaningful volumes or
with frequency within an active market. With low trading volumes, the
Company's share price can move up or down significantly following trades of
small volumes of Ordinary Shares;

 

·      the considerable cost, management time and the legal and
regulatory burden associated with maintaining the Company's admission to
trading on AIM are disproportionate to the benefits to the Company given that
the continued listing on AIM is unlikely to provide the Company with
significantly wider or more cost-effective access to capital than alternative
funding options; and

 

·      the above negative impacts as a result of being listed give rise
to adverse influences on the business in terms of operational activities, long
term strategy and future plans.

 

Accordingly, and following careful consideration, the Board considers the
disadvantages associated with maintaining the admission of the Ordinary Shares
to trading to be disproportionate when compared to the perceived benefits of
being listed on AIM and therefore the Board has unanimously concluded that the
proposed Cancellation is in the best interests of the Company and its
Shareholders as a whole.

 

Process for, and principal effects of, Cancellation

 

The Directors are aware that certain Shareholders may be unable or unwilling
to hold Ordinary Shares in the event that the Cancellation is approved and
becomes effective. Such Shareholders should consider selling their interests
in the market prior to the Cancellation becoming effective.

 

Under the AIM Rules, the Cancellation can only take place after the expiry of
a period of 20 Business Days from the date on which notice of the Cancellation
is given. In addition, a period of at least five Business Days following the
Shareholder approval of the Cancellation is required before the Cancellation
may be put into effect. Accordingly, if the Cancellation Resolution is
approved, the last day of dealings in the Ordinary Shares on AIM will be 8 May
2024, and the Cancellation will become effective at 7.00 a.m. on 9 May 2024.

 

The principal effects of the Cancellation will be that:

 

·      there would no longer be a formal market mechanism enabling
Shareholders to trade their shares through AIM;

 

·      the Company intends to implement a Matched Bargain Facility in
order to give Shareholders an opportunity to trade the Ordinary Shares
following Cancellation. The Ordinary Shares may, however, be more difficult to
trade compared to shares of companies trading on AIM;

 

·      the regulatory and financial reporting regime applicable to
companies whose shares are admitted to trading on AIM will no longer apply;

 

·      Shareholders will no longer be afforded the protections given by
the AIM Rules, such as the requirement to be notified of certain material
developments or events (including substantial transactions, financing
transactions, related party transactions and certain acquisitions and
disposals) and the separate requirement to seek shareholder approval for
certain other corporate events such as reverse takeovers or fundamental
changes in the Company's business;

 

·      SP Angel would cease to be the Company's nominated adviser and
broker;

 

·      the Company will no longer be required to publicly disclose any
change in major shareholdings in the Company under the AIM Rules or the
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules;

 

·      the Company will no longer be subject to UK MAR regulating inside
information and other matters;

 

·      in the absence of a formal market and quote, it may be more
difficult for Shareholders to determine the market value of their investment
in the Company at any given time; and

 

·      the Cancellation may have taxation or other commercial
consequences for Shareholders. Shareholders who are in any doubt about their
tax position should consult their own professional independent tax adviser.

 

The above considerations are not exhaustive and Shareholders should seek their
own independent advice when assessing the likely impact of the Cancellation on
them.

 

The Company will remain registered as a public limited company with the
Registrar of Companies in England & Wales in accordance with and subject
to the Companies Act 2006, notwithstanding the Cancellation. Shareholders
should also note that the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers will continue to
apply to the Company following the Cancellation.

 

Transactions in the Ordinary Shares prior to the proposed Cancellation

 

Shareholders should note that they are able to trade in the Ordinary Shares on
AIM prior to Cancellation. Shareholders do not have to sell their Ordinary
Shares if they do not wish to do so. However, Shareholders who elect not to
sell their Ordinary Shares in the market prior to the Cancellation will,
subject to completion of the Cancellation, hold Ordinary Shares in an unlisted
company. The Board is not making any recommendation as to whether or not
shareholders should buy or sell their Ordinary Shares.

 

Transactions in the Ordinary Shares post the proposed Cancellation

 

If a shareholder retains their Ordinary Shares following the Cancellation,
although the Ordinary Shares will remain freely tradeable, they will no longer
be tradeable on AIM.

 

The Directors are aware that, should the Cancellation be approved by
Shareholders, it would make it more difficult to buy and sell Ordinary Shares
in the Company following the Cancellation. Therefore, the Company intends to
implement a Matched Bargain Facility after the Cancellation to assist
Shareholders to trade in the Ordinary Shares. Should the Cancellation become
effective and the Company put in place a Matched Bargain Facility, details
will be made available to Shareholders on the Company's website at
www.etherapeutics.co.uk. Shareholders will continue to be able to hold their
shares in uncertificated form (i.e. in CREST) and should check with their
existing stockbroker whether they are willing or able to trade in unquoted
shares.

 

Shareholders should also be aware that any such Matched Bargain Facility could
be withdrawn at a later date.

 

Cancellation Process

 

Under the AIM Rules it is a requirement that, unless the London Stock Exchange
otherwise agrees, the Cancellation must be conditional upon the consent of not
less than 75 per cent. of votes cast by the Shareholders, given in a general
meeting.

 

The Company is calling a General Meeting, notice of which will be set out in
the Circular, and will propose a special resolution to approve the
Cancellation. Under the AIM Rules, the Company is required to give the London
Stock Exchange at least 20 Business Days' notice of Cancellation and
separately notify shareholders that it wishes to cancel the admission of its
shares to trading on AIM.

 

Accordingly, the Directors (through the Company's nominated adviser, SP Angel)
have notified the London Stock Exchange on 9 April 2024 of the Company's
intention, subject to the Cancellation Resolution being passed at the General
Meeting, to cancel the admission of the Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM.

 

If the Cancellation Resolution is passed at the General Meeting, it is
proposed that the last day of trading in Ordinary Shares on AIM will be 8 May
2024 and that Cancellation will take effect at 7.00 a.m. on 9 May 2024. Upon
the Cancellation becoming effective, SP Angel will resign as nominated adviser
to the Company and the Company will no longer be required to comply with the
AIM Rules.

 

General Meeting

 

A General Meeting of the Company is to be held at 12.30 p.m. on 29 April 2024
at Unit 4B, Floor 4, 4 Kingdom Street, Paddington Central, London, W2 6BD at
which the Resolutions will be proposed. Please note that the summary and
explanation set out below is not the full text of the Resolutions and
Shareholders should review the full text of the Resolutions before returning
their Forms of Proxy.

 

The Resolutions can be summarised as follows:

 

·      Resolution 1, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution,
is to authorise the Directors to allot relevant securities up to an aggregate
nominal value of £192,666.67 in connection with the Subscription;

 

·      Resolution 2, which will be proposed as a special resolution and
which is subject to the passing of Resolution 1, disapplies statutory
pre-emption rights, provided that such authority shall be limited to  the
allotment of equity securities in connection with the Subscription up to an
aggregate nominal amount of £192,666.67; and

 

·      Resolution 3, which will be proposed as a special resolution,
will seek to cancel the admission of the Company's Ordinary Shares to trading
on AIM.

 

Resolution 1 authorises the allotment of such number of Ordinary Shares as are
necessary for the Subscription. Similarly, Resolution 2 authorises the
disapplication of statutory pre-emption rights in respect of such number of
Ordinary Shares as are necessary for the Subscription. These authorities are
in addition to the authorities that were obtained at the Company's last annual
general meeting.

 

Action to be taken

 

The Circular contains a Form of Proxy for use at the General Meeting. Whether
or not you intend to attend the General Meeting in person you are requested to
complete the Form of Proxy in accordance with the instructions printed on it
and to return it to the Company's registrars, Neville Registrars Limited,
Neville House, Steelpark Road, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 8HD as soon as
possible and in any event by no later than 12.30 p.m. on 25 April 2024. The
completion and return of a Form of Proxy will not preclude Shareholders from
attending the General Meeting and voting in person should they so wish.

 

Recommendations

 

The Directors consider that the Subscription and the Cancellation are in the
best interests of the Company and Shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, the
Directors recommend that the Shareholders vote in favour of Resolutions at the
General Meeting as they intend to do in respect of their entire holdings which
amount to interests in 52,735,562 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately
9.0 per cent. of the Existing Ordinary Shares.

 

Expected timetable of principle events

 

                                                                             2024
 Announcement of proposed Subscription and Cancellation                      10 April 2024
 Publication and posting of the Circular and the Form of Proxy               10 April 2024
 Latest time and date for receipt of Forms of Proxy for the General Meeting  12:30 p.m. on 25 April 2024
 General Meeting                                                             12:30 p.m. on 29 April 2024
 Results of the General Meeting to be announced                              29 April 2024
 Expected last day of dealings in Ordinary Shares on AIM                     8 May 2024
 Expected time and date of Cancellation                                      7 a.m. on 9 May 2024

 

 

Enquiries

 e-therapeutics plc
 Ali Mortazavi,                                                                            Tel: +44 (0)1993 883 125
 CEO

                                                                                         www.etherapeutics.co.uk
 Timothy Bretherton, CFO

      SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP                                                       Tel: +44(0)20 3470 0470
 Nominated Adviser and Broker
 Matthew Johnson/Caroline Rowe (Corporate Finance)
 Vadim Alexandre/Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)

 

 

About e-therapeutics plc

 

e-therapeutics plc ("ETX") uniquely combines computation and RNAi to discover
and develop life-transforming medicines. ETX's proprietary RNAi chemistry
platform, GalOmic™, enables generation of specific, potent, and durable
siRNA therapeutics for effective silencing of novel gene targets in
hepatocytes. The cutting-edge HepNet™ computational platform allows ETX to
discover better medicines faster through generation of novel insights and
increased automation across all stages of drug development. HepNet™
encompasses an extensive hepatocyte-specific knowledgebase and a suite of
advanced AI-driven approaches which enable identification of novel gene
targets, rapid target-indication assessment, and predictive in silico siRNA
design. The Company has specialist expertise and a robust position in applying
computation to biology. Its computational approaches have been extensively
validated through generation of data from pipeline programs and successful
drug discovery collaborations with biopharma companies, such as Novo Nordisk,
Galapagos NV, and iTeos Therapeutics.

 

Leveraging the combined capabilities of HepNet™ and GalOmic™, ETX is
progressing a therapeutic pipeline of highly differentiated RNAi candidates
across a variety of therapeutic areas with high unmet need. The Company has
generated positive proof-of-concept data on preclinical assets in metabolic
dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), dry age-related macular
degeneration (dry AMD), haemophilia and, cardiometabolic disease, further
validating its computationally enhanced approach to research and development.
ETX is currently progressing lead assets ETX-312 for MASH and ETX-407 for dry
AMD through IND-enabling studies and towards the clinic.

 

 

 

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