VolitionRx enters into US$9mln private placement

Life sciences company VolitionRx Ltd (NYSEAMERICAN:VNRX) announced Wednesday that it was raising around US$9mln in a private placement. The investors were not named.

The company said it will use the net proceeds of the private placement for product development, clinical studies, product commercialization working capital, and other general corporate purposes.

VolitionRx said it had entered into a “definitive agreement” with an “existing accredited investor” for a private investment in public equity, often called a PIPE deal, for 5 million shares of Volition common stock at a price of US$1.80 per share. According to terms of the transaction, the company is also offering a warrant to purchase an additional five million shares of Volition stock at an exercise price of US$3.00 per share payable in cash.

This will result in US$9mln in gross proceeds before the deduction of offering expenses. The warrant will have a term of one year from the closing date and be exercisable for a period of six months, commencing on the six-month anniversary of the closing date. The private placement is expected to close by August 10.

READ: VolitionRx’s market in cancer detection expanding sharply with its Nu.Q product, says Maxim

VolitionRx develops and markets cost-effective, easy-to-use Nu.Q blood-based tests to accurately diagnose colorectal cancer as well as a broad range of other cancers. The tests are based on VolitionRx‘s Nucleosomics technology platform, which identifies and measures nucleosomes in the bloodstream or in other bodily fluid.

The market for the total NU.Q Assay kits being sold by VolitionRx for colorectal cancer detection may see its market go up after the American Cancer Society (ACS) recently issued guidelines to lower the age for screening because younger people are at greater risk of the disease.

The kit is the first of a planned series of kits being rolled out in the coming months. The Nu.Q holds promise and is being evaluated in Asia, the European Union and the US. The first data readouts and commercial launches are expected this year and into 2020.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet it currently remains the least prevented form of cancer.

Shares of VolitionRx were 2.9% lower to US$1.70 in premarket trade.

Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive 

Story by ProactiveInvestors