Zeltia raises €65m in new funds
Spanish biotech company Zeltia has raised €65m of new funds through a private placement of 10.75m new ordinary shares with qualified institutional investors at a price of €6.05 per share.
Spanish biotech company Zeltia has raised €65m of new funds through a private placement of 10.75m new ordinary shares with qualified institutional investors at a price of €6.05 per share.
This transaction is one of the four largest executed in European biotech in the last four years.
The funds raised will be used to further the continued research, development and commercialisation of cancer products being developed by PharmaMar, Zeltia's biopharmaceutical subsidiary.
'PharmaMar has a number of products in its pipeline which have the potential to realise substantial value for shareholders in the near future and these funds will give us the necessary resources to secure that value,' said Zeltia chairman Jose Maria Fernandez-Sousa.
PharmaMar is a pioneer in the discovery and development of novel anticancer drugs derived from marine organisms. Its clinical portfolio currently includes five compounds: Yondelis in Phase II/III trials for solid tumours (co-developed with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development); Aplidin, in Phase II for solid and haematological tumours; Kahalalide F in Phase II for solid tumour and severe psoriasis; and ES-285 and Zalypsis in Phase I trials for solid tumours.
Besides PharmaMar, Zeltia has several other subsidiaries: Neuropharma, devoted to the discovery and development of novel drugs against Alzheimer and other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system; Genomica, which produces and sells DNA diagnostic tools; and Zelnova and Xylazel, which build on Zeltia's heritage in the chemicals business.