BioWorld International Correspondent

BioInvent International AB plans to raise about SEK160 million (US$20.2 million) in a discounted rights offering to continue development of its single clinical development program, in HIV, and to bring three more projects into the clinic within the next 18 months.

Shareholders will vote on the plan at an extraordinary general meeting on Nov. 2, but the share issue already has received 100 percent support from existing and prospective new investors.

BioInvent, of Lund, Sweden, plans to issue about 17.7 million new shares at SEK9 each. BioInvent shares had closed at SEK13 on the Stockholm Stock Exchange immediately prior to the announcement last week but dropped to SEK11.75 on the news. The company had about 29.5 million outstanding shares as of Sept. 30. Shareholders are entitled to subscribe for three new shares for every five shares they hold. The subscription period runs from Nov. 15 through Dec. 2.

BioInvent had SEK81.8 million in cash at Sept. 30, and it will burn more than SEK100 million in the next 12 months, CEO Svein Mathisen told BioWorld International. "It might have been possible to raise more, but it is always a balance between what's needed and what's acceptable dilution," he said.

The company's lead program in HIV is based on patent rights licensed from Thymon LLC, of Short Hills, N.J. BioInvent has developed a monoclonal antibody, BI-201, undergoing a Phase I/IIa trial, which targets a conserved epitope on the HIV transactivator of transcription (Tat) protein. The latter, which is produced in and secreted from virus-infected cells, is essential for HIV replication and infectivity. It both activates transcription of viral genes in infected cells and primes na ve cells for subsequent viral entry.

"In addition to efficacy, so far, we have strong evidence we have a more beneficial resistance profile," Mathisen said. The company saw no resistance developing to BI-201 during a 40-week in vitro study. It aims to report on the current trial during the second quarter of next year. "After we have completed that, we will try to clinch a [development] alliance," he said.

As the antibody development partner, BioInvent holds a 40 percent interest in two preclinical programs: TB-402, an antibody targeting Factor VIII for thrombosis, and TB-403, an antibody targeting placenta growth factor for tumor angiogenesis. Both are partnered with ThromboGenics Ltd., of Dublin, Ireland. BioInvent's fourth preclinical drug candidate, BI-204, targets oxidized low-density lipoprotein and is in development for atherosclerosis.