Vectus Biosystems launches $4.5m capital raising to advance anti-fibrosis drug
Net proceeds of the placement and share purchase plan will be used to fast-track Vectus’ phase 1b clinical trial of VB0004.
Drug discovery and development company Vectus Biosystems (ASX: VBS) has launched a $4.5 million capital raising to accelerate a phase 1b clinical trial of lead candidate VB0004 to treat fibrosis and hypertension.
The raising will be conducted in two transactions, as a share placement to sophisticated investors and a share purchase plan to existing shareholders.
The company has received firm commitments for the $3.5 million placement, which will see the issue of 4.37 million new and fully paid ordinary shares at $0.80 each to investors including healthcare industry professionals who are unrelated to the company.
The share purchase plan for eligible existing shareholders will be conducted at the same time and for the same price.
Individuals will have the opportunity to invest up to $30,000 each, with the total plan capped at $1 million.
Use of funds
Net proceeds of the raising will be used to accelerate Vectus’ phase 1b clinical trial for VB0004, which targets the prevention and reversal of fibrosis in the heart and kidneys.
Funds will also be used to advance other emerging compounds towards lead status and human trials.
These include VB4-A32 for the treatment of liver fibrosis, VB4-A79 (pulmonary fibrosis, including asbestosis and coal dust pneumoconiosis or black lung disease), and VB4-P5 (renal tubular cell death from chemotherapies).
Gene calibration platform
Vectus said it will direct part of the proceeds toward commercialisation of the AccuCal-D gene calibration platform, developed by wholly-owned subsidiary Accugen.
The platform comprises reagents and software which measure the amount of DNA or RNA genes in a sample.
Vectus believes the system — which comprises AccuCal and RealCount software — potentially offers time, cost and accuracy benefits over current tools used to precisely quantify polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).
Vectus chairman Ron Shnier said the company has been working on enhancements to improve the platform’s speed and accuracy for the market.
“Our commercialisation program includes direct sales, distribution partnerships and licensing opportunities across a broad range of applications including food safety which is a large and growing market,” he said.
Scar tissue deaths
Fibrosis (or scar tissue) occurs after the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue in organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver.
It plays a role in more than 40% of deaths worldwide.
While current treatments only slow the progression of fibrosis, Vectus has demonstrated in animal models that its compounds could potentially reverse the process, leading to the restoration of normal tissue architecture.
Unmet clinical need
Mr Shnier said drugs such as VB0004 could answer an unmet clinical need.
“Fibrosis is the end point of a whole host of diseases including high blood pressure, injury, post infections (such as COVID-19), radiotherapy and silicosis… to have potential drugs that can stop or reverse the growth of scar tissue is a major development in medicine,” he said.