Antisense raises $3.6m in private placement

Melbourne's Antisense Therapeutics (ASX:ANP) has raised $3.6 million through a private placement to Australian and professional investors to fund the phase IIa trial of its antisense compound ATL1102 for patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.

More than 109 million ordinary shares were issued at $0.033 per share. As part of the placement the company's major shareholder, Circadian Technologies (ASX:CIR) has agreed to subscribe for $1 million worth of ordinary shares at the placement price and 10 Australian institutional investors have been added to the register.

"This provides us with the funding to aggressively pursue our plans for the phase IIa trials of our MS drug," said Antisense CEO Mark Diamond. "The institutional support is very important and the quality of the institutions reflects a renewed interest in antisense technology. Including our own MS application of the technology, we understand there are now over 15 antisense projects globally in phase II or III clinical trials."

Antisense was given the green light to restart the phase IIa trial by the University of Essen, Germany in January. In March 2005 Antisense voluntarily halted the trial following Biogen Idec and Elan Corp's decision to shelve their drug Tysabri, after reports that two patients had developed multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a specific type of viral infection leading to a rare, deadly disease of the central nervous system. Antisense's drug has a different mechanism to Tysabri, but has the same target.

Patient enrolment and dosing in the ATL1102 phase II are trial are planned to commence at the primary trial site in the first quarter 2006, another eight trial centres in Germany will be initiated in the coming months. The treatment and patient monitoring stages of the 80-patient trial are expected to be completed by the end of 2006, assuming patient recruitment proceeds at the anticipated rate. Based on this results are expected to be reported in the first half of 2007. Meanwhile the FDA is expected to rule on Biogen Idec and Elan Corp's application to restart by the end of March this year.

Based on current cash reserves, this capital raising will increase Antisense's cash balance to $10.1 million. The placement was managed by Lodge Corporate Services.

Eiffel placement

Meanwhile, Sydney drug re-engineering company Eiffel Technologies (ASX:EIF) has raised more than $500,000 through a placement.

The funds will be used to pursue M&A opportunities. Eiffel is in the process of evaluating acquisition targets and plans to broaden its current focus on the application of supercritical fluid processes towards the development of medicines with enhanced performance. The process of evaluation and deal execution is expected to take about four months.

Almost 23 million fully paid ordinary shares were issued at 2.5 cents per share, with options issued on a one for two basis. The placement was managed by Kefu Underwriters.