ImmuPharma raises £1.5m to fund development programmes

Drug discovery and development company ImmuPharma announced subscriptions to raise £1.5m through the issue of 15 million new ordinary shares at a price of 10p each on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm said the subscriptions comprised a £0.2m subscription from Dr Robert Zimmer, its director, president and chief scientific officer, and a £1.3m subscription with Lanstead Capital Investors, an institutional investor and substantial shareholder, together with a related sharing agreement, to raise a total of £1.5m before expenses.

It described it as a “further supportive investment” by Lanstead following the £4.43m investment and sharing agreement in February 2016, from which ImmuPharma ultimately received just over £5m from Lanstead, and the £2.66m investment in June 2019, which was invested in an ongoing sharing agreement, which was also currently ahead on cumulative settlements to date.

The board noted that the issue price represented a 6.45% discount to the closing price of 10.69p on 27 March.

It said the £1.3m gross proceeds of the Lanstead subscription would be pledged by the firm under a sharing agreement, which would entitle ImmuPharma to receive back those proceeds on a pro rata monthly basis over a period of 24 months, subject to adjustment upwards or downwards each month depending on its share price at the time.

The sharing agreement provided the opportunity for the firm to benefit from positive future share price performance.

ImmuPharma said it also agreed to issue 650,000 new ordinary shares to Lanstead in connection with the sharing agreement.

The proceeds of the subscriptions of £1.5m, of which £1.3m would be subject to the sharing agreement, would be used primarily to fund the expansion of its research and development programmes, and for general working capital.

It said its pipeline would now comprise four therapy areas, being autoimmunity, anti-infectives, metabolism and cancer.

The company said it had strengthened its advisory team for the ‘Lupuzor’ international phase 3 trial, and had planned a proof-of-concept study for Lupuzor in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) patients.

It also said it had three new anti-infective programmes, and a new ‘BioGlucagon’ product, with a potential market launch date in 2022.

“We are delighted to receive further investment from Lanstead, who remain a long term supporter and significant institutional shareholder in ImmuPharma,” said chairman Tim McCarthy.

“We also recognise the further investment from our president and chief scientific officer, Dr Robert Zimmer, who similarly is a significant shareholder in the company.

“It is important to recognise the continuing support of Lanstead as a long term shareholder in ImmuPharma, which has been demonstrated since their initial involvement in 2016.”

McCarthy noted they remained committed to maintaining a significant shareholding within the company into 2018, after the sharing agreement was completed in 2017, and again supported it with a further investment in 2019.

“We believe that this latest investment from Lanstead is a strong endorsement of ImmuPharma and in support of their own carefully developed investment strategy of only supporting companies and technology platforms which have substantial future accretive opportunities.

"The proceeds from these investments by Dr Zimmer and Lanstead, together with existing cash resources, will support the significant expansion of our research and development pipeline.

“We look forward to continuing our long and beneficial relationship with Lanstead which ultimately is focused on creating greater value for shareholders over the medium and long term.”

At 1616 BST, shares in ImmuPharma were down 4.51% at 10.21p.