Destiny Pharma Plc

英国伦敦证交所似乎正在成为Biotech融资的禁区，放在以前，许多英国当地的Biotech会倾向于前往伦敦证交所的AIM（另类投资市场）板块上市。 1995年成立的AIM是个类似国内“新三板”的板块，上市条件非常宽松，外加有来自离岸金融中心的优势（许多上市公司在英吉利海峡群岛或英属维尔京群岛注册），因此在一段时间内也成为了许多当地Biotech挂牌的地方。 但在近期，许多当地Biotech企业不再能从AIM获得公共资金，这促使一些企业向美国市场寻求现金来扩大业务规模，或者干脆私有化退出市场。当地媒体城市晨报指出，AIM现在已经淹没在私有化收购浪潮中，过去一年中这种私有化事件增长了75%，达到12年来的最高水平。 Redx Pharma Redx Pharma可以说是近年来非常倒霉的一家英国Biotech，这家公司最开始于2015年上市于AIM，而且所开发的管线完全有能力大卖，但因为机缘巧合错过了： Redx Pharma是最开始开发BTK抑制剂匹妥布替尼的，后来匹妥布替尼仅以4000万美元被Loxo Oncology低价收购。而Loxo Oncology被礼来收购后，礼来却将匹妥布替尼作为了“重磅炸弹”开发，销售额预测可达30亿美元，可以说Redx Pharma白白错失了“泼天富贵”。非常可惜。 该公司另外的失利来自于核心管线，去年3月porcupine抑制剂RXC004胆道癌临床失败，放弃单药应用，RXC004失败的原因被认为可能是质量窗口太小，拿得出手的管线仅剩下ROCK2抑制剂RXC007和2020年独家授权给阿斯利康的porcupine抑制剂RXC006，用于治疗纤维化疾病。 第二重要的核心管线失利，Redx Pharma也在英国市场上失去了公共资金支持，股价大跌。为了起码能推动RXC007的临床，Redx Pharma与美国公司Jounce Therapeutics在纳斯达克反向合并上市，身为壳的Jounce Therapeutics彻底放弃了自身管线而寻求出售。然而5月的时候，神秘搅局者收购了Jounce Therapeutics，这导致合并报团取暖都做不到。 祸不单行的是，今年Q1的时候，阿斯利康退货了RXC006，Redx Pharma在AIM的股价也随着坏消息而一路下跌。为了生存，该公司还将KRAS G12C抑制剂卖给了Jazz。 很显然，Redx认为AIM市场的流动性限制正在削弱其估值。因此Redx Pharma就从AIM退市。董事会认为，作为一家私营公司，私有化可以接触到更广泛的专业投资者。后续交易就放在了JP Jenkins上。 ReNeuron ReNeuron最初是一家干细胞治疗公司，2022年年初，该公司突然改变了战略开发方向，停止了治疗色素性视网膜炎的干细胞疗法，以将其资源集中在其外泌体平台和相关合作上。 这一决定其实并不意外，2019年这一疗法披露临床时的数据就不怎么好看，22年年初的决定算是比较正确的。 不过，22年初的战略方向更改并不能挽回22年年底的颓势，该公司在22年12月宣布融资失败，裁员40%，来应对现金流压力。这次削减让公司的现金流赛道延长到了今年。 而到了今年，现金流压力也终于给到。 公司管理层目前正在与ReNeuron的债权人商谈，以确定该企业的偿付能力。一旦相关洽谈结束，公司管理层将与董事会一起决定下一步措施。大概率会退出AIM市场，并私有化。 e-therapeutics e-therapeutics是一家小核酸药物的AI发现公司，持有RNAi化学开发平台GalOmic和HepNet计算平台，目前处于IND阶段的管线是：用于MASH的ETX-312，用于干性AMD的ETX-407，目前管线相对处于早期。 虽然没有什么负面消息，但e-therapeutics离开AIM时颇有怨言，CEO当时就指出，英国投资者的风险偏好意味着“ETX等公司在AIM市场的受众有限。” 总结 除了上述提及的退市公司意外，其他的离场者还有Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies和Destiny Pharma等等。 城市晨报指出，现金从专注于英国的股票基金中流出，仅2023年就损失了140亿英镑。这拖累了较小的公司，引起了踩踏事件，更令人担忧的是，如果没有足够的资本流入市场，未来进入AIM市场的资本只会越来越少，一些公司股价也会越来越低。 城市晨报认为，问题可能在于运营模式，AIM似乎仍然在用30年前的上市模式，上市花费过高，上市将花费约50万英镑，RNS公告费、法律费用和其他费用每年增加约20万英镑。 鉴于在AIM上市的约400家公司市值低于5000万英镑，这对英国的小企业来说是一个高昂的代价。 Biotech出现退市潮毫不让人意外。

Bivictrix Therapeutics joined AIM almost exactly three years ago, raising 7.5 million pounds sterling ($9.5 million) from an IPO. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have been at the center of many a billion-dollar biobuck licensing deal over the last year, but Bivictrix Therapeutics feels like it’s been missing out.The preclinical company—which is currently listed on the U.K.’s ailing AIM stock exchange—is keen to get its lead bispecific candidate BVX001 into human trials, but currently has just 1.7 million pounds sterling ($2.2 million) to its name. After mulling its options, the biotech’s leadership has decided the best way to raise fresh funds is to go private.Bivictrix said it has already had “positive initial interactions” with the FDA about moving BVX001, a CD7xCD33 candidate for acute myeloid leukemia, into the clinic. Now, it requires “significant funds to be able to proceed.”“In comparison to private companies operating in the ADC space, the directors believe the current market capitalisation of the company neither fully reflects the positive achievements nor the underlying prospects of the business and is a barrier to future growth, funding and potential partnership and licensing discussions,” Bivictrix said in an Aug. 12 release.The company name-checked fellow U.K.-based ADC company Myricx Bio, which last month raised 90 million pounds ($114 million) in a series A round to take its own candidates into the clinic as illustrating “the appetite for major investors to invest in this area.” The current levels of liquidity available from trading the company’s shares on AIM “do not, in itself, offer investors the opportunity to trade in meaningful volumes or with frequency within an active market,” Bivictrix explained.“Whilst there is no guarantee that cancellation and re-registration will lead to the company successfully completing a significant fundraise or licensing deal, the directors believe its prospects of such a transaction will be significantly increased as a private company,” Bivictrix said.Bivictrix will be following a well-worn path of biotechs like Destiny Pharma as well as other companies that are fleeing AIM, a junior exchange to the London Stock Exchange, citing a desire to raise money elsewhere or the cost of listing requirements.Bivictrix joined AIM almost exactly three years ago, raising 7.5 million pounds ($9.5 million) from an IPO that saw the company list its shares for 20 pence apiece. The company has lost 35% of its value in the following years, trading at 13 pence on Friday.Shareholders will be asked to vote on the plan to go private at a meeting at the end of the month.

Like many biotechs, Destiny has struggled on the public markets in recent years. Destiny Pharma’s search for a partner to take its nasal infection prevention med into phase 3 has come up short, leading the British biotech to go private to avoid liquidation. Destiny was one of the few biotechs to choose to list in London in recent years, joining the AIM exchange via a £15.3 million ($19.8 million at the time) offering in 2017. The Brighton, U.K.-based company’s pitch was to use the money to fund the phase 2b trial of XF-73, a nasal drug designed to prevent post-surgery staphylococcal infections. That trial read out in 2021, showing that XF-73 Nasal—a synthetic dicationic porphyrin drug called exeporfinium chloride—produced a more than 99% reduction in nasal bacterial load when compared to placebo, hitting the study’s primary endpoint. But the biotech has struggled to find a partner to take the asset into phase 3 development. With money tight, Destiny has been advised that its best chance of getting an infusion of equity is to return to being a private company. “While there can be no guarantee, the board believes that the only viable option now available to Destiny Pharma to create future shareholder value is the pursuit of capital as a private company,” Nigel Rudd, chair of Destiny’s board of directors, explained in a July 15 release. “Without taking this route, we believe that liquidation of the company is the most likely alternative,” Rudd added. Destiny entered 2024 with £6.4 million ($8.3 million) in cash and equivalents, and notified investors as far back as April that despite engaging with “a number of potential partners” and receiving “some strong and positive feedback” about XF-73 Nasal, the company had been unable to nail down a licensing partner. One stumbling block for potential partners was the anticipated phase 3 trial costs, as well as the general view that antibiotics have limited commercial potential, Destiny explained at the time. To this end, the company pledged to work to “enhance the attractiveness” of XF-73 with a new trial design that should halve the clinical costs. Despite the best efforts of CEO Chris Tovey, who moved across to Destiny from Jazz Pharmaceuticals in September 2023, to “vigorously pursue a potential licensing deal,” there is still no partner in sight. “Although we continue to speak to partners about this renewed proposition, we are extremely disappointed that a deal has not been forthcoming and, given our shortening cash runway, have been forced to amend our strategy as we seek to continue to progress this important product,” Tovey said in this morning’s release. Like many biotechs, Destiny has struggled on the public markets in recent years. The company’s stock rested comfortably above the one pound mark in 2021, but has declined since and despite a rally towards the end of 2023, now sits at just two pence per share. Destiny will put its delisting proposal to shareholders at a meeting later in July.