Silence Therapeutics (SLN ), which is focused on developing short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) therapeutics to treat diseases with significant unmet medical need, is set to receive around $45m - that's around £33m - to support the development of its drug pipeline.
An oversubscribed private placing of 2,022,218 of the Company's American Depositary Shares were sold at a price of $22.50 each. The financing syndicate includes, amongst others, US investors such as Adage Capital Management LP and BVF Partners L.P.
Silence highlighted that it intends to use the net proceeds from the placement ‘primarily to support development of the Company's pipeline based on its messenger RNAi GOLD™ (GalNAc Oligonucleotide Discovery) platform’, as well as for general corporate purposes.
"This financing marks an important step in our journey to increase awareness of Silence and position our company as a global RNAi leader," said President and CEO, Mark Rothera.
He told investors, “We expect to build on this momentum throughout 2021, starting with the first clinical data from our mRNAi GOLD™ Platform due out the first half of this year, followed by patient data from our two wholly owned programs - SLN360 for cardiovascular disease due to high lipoprotein(a) and SLN124 for patients with iron loading anemias.”
Shares in Silence Therapeutics have increased by nearly 40% since the beginning of December 2020 to dip 1.69% lower this morning at 587p following the announcement.
"Our goal at the outset of this process was to increase appreciation for Silence and build our global shareholder base," added Craig Tooman, Chief Financial Officer at Silence Therapeutics. "We believe we achieved those objectives while strengthening our balance sheet to support the continued acceleration and growth of our mRNAi GOLD™ Platform."
Silence's RNAi GOLD™ platform can be used to create siRNAs that precisely target and silence disease-associated genes in the liver, which represents a substantial opportunity.
The Company’s product candidates include SLN360 which is designed to address the high and prevalent unmet medical need in reducing cardiovascular risk in people born with high levels of lipoprotein(a) and SLN124 which is designed to address iron loading anaemias.
Silence maintains ongoing research and development collaborations with pharmaceutical groups including, but not limited to, AstraZeneca and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
Follow News & Updates from Silence Therapeutics here: