REG - N4 Pharma PLC - Acquisition of Controlling Interest in Nanogenics

N4 PharmaAnnouncement

28/09/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 9147N  N4 Pharma PLC  28 September 2023

 

28 September 2023

N4 Pharma Plc

("N4 Pharma" or the "Company")

Acquisition of Controlling Interest in Nanogenics Limited

Placing to raise £350,000

N4 Pharma Plc (AIM: N4P), the specialist pharmaceutical company developing
Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for oncology, gene therapy and vaccines, is
pleased to announce the acquisition of a controlling interest, through a
subscription for new ordinary shares, in Nanogenics Limited ("Nanogenics"), a
company with a complementary lipid and peptide-based delivery system called
Liptide®, which it is using to develop a novel siRNA product targeting an
unmet clinical need in the ophthalmology market.

 

The acquisition has been funded by a placing of 35,000,000 new ordinary shares
of 0.4p each in the Company (the "Placing Shares") at an issue price of 1p per
Placing Share (the "Placing") raising £350,000 (before expenses).

 

Highlights

 

·     Subscription for new shares in Nanogenics to acquire a 71.25%
interest for £250,000, reducing to a 63.75% interest as management hit
strategic milestones

 

·     Nanogenic's lead product candidate, ECP105 uses the Liptide®
platform to deliver a proprietary siRNA sequence to silence a fibrotic gene
thereby enhancing the recovery of patients in post-glaucoma surgery

 

·     In 2020, more than 75 million people worldwide were affected by
glaucoma and the total glaucoma treatment market size exceeded $5.5 billion in
2021 and is expected to have over 3.2% CAGR from 2022 to 2028(1)

 

·     Investment in an early-stage siRNA product at an attractive
valuation which meets an unmet clinical need with the opportunity to target
other anti-fibrotic markets (liver and lung)

 

·     Expected technical synergies from developing Liptide® alongside
Nuvec®

 

 

Use of Proceeds

 

£250,000 of the funds raised will be used to subscribe for an initial
economic interest of 71.25% in Nanogenics, reducing to 63.75% upon future
shares vesting to Nanogenics' management for meeting key strategic milestones.
In addition, the Company is providing a loan facility of £50,000 to
Nanogenics (the loan being a 2-year discretionary loan at base rate repayable
before any dividends are paid out by Nanogenics). The remainder of the funds
raised will be used to cover transaction costs.

 

Information on Nanogenics

 

Nanogenics (www.nanogenics.co.uk (http://www.nanogenics.co.uk) ) has developed
a proprietary siRNA sequence to silence the fibrotic gene Myocardin Related
Transcription Factor B ("MRTF-B"). The company is developing a product, named
ECP105, for the recovery of post-surgical treatment of glaucoma. In glaucoma
treatment, surgery is used to lower intraocular pressure for patients who have
failed to respond to medication. The surgery creates a reservoir (bleb) under
the surface of the eye. The natural response of the body is to try and 'heal'
this drain causing fibrosis at the surgery site. This fibrosis often leads to
failure of the surgery and even with adjunctive anti-fibrotic therapy, failure
rates of surgery remain as high as 50% and patients are frequently required to
undergo further surgery. The current preventative measure for this fibrosis is
to use untargeted, cytotoxic anti-fibrotic drugs like Mitomycin C (a
chemotherapy drug) which have a poor safety profile and are used off-label in
the US market.

 

Nanogenics has already undertaken an initial proof of concept in-vivo study
which has demonstrated that a single dose of ECP105 can match the
anti-fibrotic effect of Mitomycin C but does not have the cytotoxic side
effects, so unlike Mitomycin C, it can be dosed repeatedly. Nanogenics will
use the proceeds received as part of the investment by the Company to repeat
this study using a novel formulation containing its proprietary siRNA sequence
as preparation for discussions with the FDA and MHRA to approve a GLP toxicity
regulatory study and first in human clinical trials.

 

Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer of N4 Pharma Plc, commented:

 

"We have been investigating potential assets to add to the Company for some
time. The RNA sector is an exciting one with a lot of investor and commercial
interest. The addition of the Liptide® delivery system and siRNA sequence
adds significant potential value to our business. As well as glaucoma, the
MRTF-B gene is also responsible for fibrosis of the liver and lung, two large
areas into which Nanogenics could develop its portfolio.

 

"Non-viral, non-lipid delivery systems are high in demand in the gene therapy
space and we now have two such delivery systems and expect considerable
technical synergies in developing programmes using both Nuvec® and Liptide®.
We are very excited about securing this material interest in Nanogenics on,
what we consider to be, very favourable commercial terms and we look forward
to seeing Liptide® develop in parallel to Nuvec® and the resulting increase
in newsflow having two assets under development will bring."

 

Application for Admission

 

The Placing has been conducted utilising the Company's existing share
authorities. Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted
to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take
place and that trading will commence on AIM at 8.00 a.m. on or around 3
October 2023. Once issued, the Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the
Company's existing ordinary shares.

 

Total Voting Rights

 

Following Admission, the enlarged issued share capital of the Company will
comprise 268,780,349 ordinary shares of 0.4 pence each ("Ordinary Shares").
The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Consequently,
268,780,349 is the figure which may be used by shareholders as the denominator
for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to
notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under
the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

 

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 which has been incorporated into UK law by the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  Upon the publication of this announcement via
Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to
be in the public domain.

 

Enquiries:

 

 N4 Pharma Plc                                          Via IFC Advisory

 Nigel Theobald, CEO

 Luke Cairns, Executive Director

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP                         Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker

 Matthew Johnson/Kasia Brzozowska (Corporate Finance)

 Vadim Alexandre/Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)

 Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited                  Tel: +44 (0)20 3657 0050

 Joint Broker

 Andy Thacker

 IFC Advisory Limited                                   Tel: +44 (0)20 3934 6630

 Financial PR

 Graham Herring

 Zach Cohen

 

About N4 Pharma

N4 Pharma is a specialist pharmaceutical company developing a novel delivery
system for oncology, gene therapy and vaccines using its unique silica
nanoparticle delivery system called Nuvec®.

 

N4 Pharma's business model is to partner with companies developing novel
antigens in these fields to use Nuvec® as the delivery vehicle for these
antigens. As these products progress through pre-clinical and clinical
programs, N4 Pharma will seek to receive upfront payments, milestone payments
and ultimately royalty payments once products reach the market.

 

 

 

 1  https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/glaucoma-treatment-market

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