Ness Ziona Science Park, Israel, October 2, 2018, Israeli biotechnology company Kadimastem (TASE: KDST) announced today the completion of an investment round of $5.15 million, by way of private placement, at a share price of 65 agorot.
Participants in the round include the Altshuler Shaham Investment House ($2.5 million), which is thereby increasing its holdings in the company to around 20%, as well as the company’s controlling shareholders, Prof. Michel and Claire Revel ($500K) and Julien Ruggieri ($600K), as well as company stakeholders (Mr. Yigal Fatran, member of the BOD of the company; Dr. Michal Izrael, VP R&D for ALS and Neurodegenerative Diseases; Dr. Arik Hasson, VP R&D; and Mr. Yehuda Feinberg, CFO) and additional private investors ($1.55 million).
The amount raised is planned to be sufficient to enable the company to reach product efficacy results from cohorts A and B in the Phase I/IIa clinical trial in ALS patients; these results are very significant. The company expects to reach this milestone within the coming year and a quarter.
The Phase I/IIa clinical trial is being conducted by the Department of Neurology of the Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center, expected to include 21 participants. The objective of the trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the company's product, AstroRx®, in patients.
Until reaching the milestone of receiving efficacy results from cohorts A and B, the company will not raise new equity financing, except for the following cases: Financing from a pharma or biotech company with a market cap of at least $100M, or within the framework of co-funding of the company will receive a grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (co-funding requirement of 20%), at a share price higher than the share price of the current financing round. In the event that the company raises new equity not under the above terms, the holdings of the investors from the current round will be preserved. That said, by a decision of a majority of the investors in this round this condition can be waived.
Yossi Ben Yossef, CEO of Kadimastem, noted, "I am happy that we've completed this significant raise, led by Altshuler Shaham and company controlling shareholders Prof. Michel and Claire Revel and Julien Ruggieri. Stopping or slowing down the disease progression in cohorts A and B in the in the Phase I/IIa clinical trial in ALS patients will represent an accomplishment on a global scale.”
