Immutep will raise $100m and collaborate with Merck on a lung cancer trial
The biotechnology company will team up with Merck on a lung cancer trial after announcing it would also raise $100m in new capital.
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Immutep will team up with global pharma giant Merck on a phase three trial for a first line treatment for lung cancer, and has also tapped investors for $100m in new capital.
It’s a decent chunk of new funds for the company, which is currently valued at $535m, with the new capital to be raised at a 15 per cent discount to the last closing price of 45c.
Immutep is offering $72m worth of new shares, priced at 38c a share, to institutional investors with an entitlement offer for current shareholders on a one for 16 basis to raise the remainder of the funds.
Immutep also announced on Monday a collaboration with Merck to evaluate Immutep’s Efti compound in concert with Merck’s Keytruda drug for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
“The potential for Eti in combination with Keytruda and chemotherapy is to set a new standard of care, by strengthening clinical outcomes for responders and broadening the number of patients who respond across the entire non-small cell lung cancer patient population,” Immutep said.
The global, phase three trial will enrol about 750 patients, with the first patient to be signed on late this calendar year, Immutep said.
Immutep chef executive Mark Voigt said the company was eager to build on the advances immunotherapy has to date brought to patients with this form of lung cancer.
“This collaboration agreement speaks to the strength of the clinical data generated to date from this novel immuno-oncology combination and its future potential,” Mr Voigt said.
Merck will support the trial by supplying Keytruda at cost, with a supply of the drug for a trial of this size usually running to about $150m, and would also share clinical data with Immutep.
The agreement will enable Immutep and Merck to seek marketing authorisation of the drug treatment combination and to market their respective compounds with a relevant label indication.
“The parties retain the commercial rights to their respective compounds and are free to conduct other clinical studies, either individually or in combination, in any therapeutic area,” Immutep said.
Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 80-85 per cent of all lung cancers, Immutep said, impacting an estimated 1.87 million people annually, and has the highest cause of death among all cancers.
Following the capital raise, Immutep said it expects to be fully-funded for its current clinical trial program and until the end of calendar 2026, with cash on hand of $195m.
The company will spend $60m of the new funds on clinical trials, $28m on manufacturing including further development of commercial scale manufacturing, and $12.2m on working capital and offer costs.
The capital raising is fully underwritten.
Originally published as Immutep will raise $100m and collaborate with Merck on a lung cancer trial
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