Lucy Turnbull-backed Immutep has raised $68m to fund cancer trials until 2026

The immunotherapy-based biotech says it will be able to funds its studies for lung, breast and neck cancer until the first quarter of 2026 after tapping investors for cash.

Immutep chief executive Marc Voigt says the company has been resisting a capital raising for a “long time”.

Immutep, an immunotherapy-­focused biotech, has raised $68m from institutional investors to fund clinical trials of its cancer-busting drugs until early 2026.

The raising sent the company’s shares diving 13.3 per cent to 26c – the same price as the capital raising – on Friday. This compared with a 0.5 per cent gain across the broader sharemarket,

Since successfully completing phase 2 trials late last year of its lead product efti – a treatment for lung cancer patients – Immutep has had a lukewarm response from analysts in anticipation of a capital raising and its shares have lost almost 30 per cent in the past six months.

Chief executive Marc Voigt says the company had been resisting such a move and last completed a capital raising two years ago.

“By biotech standards that’s a relatively long time,” Mr Voigt said. “For a while we have been in a very good balance sheet situation so you fell comfortable, you run your clinical trials and in our case we achieved what I believe is a great results, which has not always been reflected in the share price.”

The ASX-listed company – which counts Lucy Turnbull as one of its biggest investors and a former director – completed phase 2 trials of efti with pharmaceutical giant Merck late last year.

In the study, the number of lung cancer patients who responded successfully to Merk’s drug, Keytruda, effectively doubled when used in combination with efti.

The results look promising for Immutep, considering Keytruda is one of the world’s biggest selling medicines, generating $4.8bn in sales in the first quarter of this year.

Combined with efti, the hope is to grow those sales, given the significant need to treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

The company is seeking to raise an additional $12.1m from retail investors from June 6, taking the total raising to $80m.

This will lift Immutep’s cash balance to $135.2m and fund later stage trials of efti, as well as phase 2 studies of treatments for neck small-cell carcinoma and breast cancer. It will also enable the first-in-human phase 1 trial for IMP761, the world’s first and only LAG-3 agonist, for auto-immune disease.

Chairman Russell Howard said the cash would ensure its current and expanded clinical program was funded until the first quarter of 2026.

“We are delighted to have such strong support from so many of our existing institutional shareholders and are pleased to welcome new healthcare-focused and specialist funds to our register,” Dr Howard said.

“We are also pleased to be offering certain of our existing retail shareholders the opportunity to participate in the retail component of the entitlement offer on the same terms.

“As the pace of activity accelerates, the team is very excited about Immutep’s future and we look forward to reporting our progress to shareholders.”

Bell Potter Securities has fully underwritten the offer with Jeffries and Wilsons Corporate Finance.