NEW YORK – Alaunos Therapeutics on Tuesday announced that it is expecting to raise $15.7 million in gross proceeds after selling about 24,228,719 shares of common stock, which it plans to use to fund the continued development of its T-cell receptor-based therapies.
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is managing the offering, which is expected to close on or around Dec. 1. Alaunos also said that it has granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to 3,634,307 additional shares of common stock.
Alaunos, which was previously named Ziopharm, is developing autologous TCR therapies for solid tumors that have specific HLA types and harbor hotspot mutations targeted by one of the TCRs in Alaunos' library. The firm's platform uses the Sleeping Beauty transposon/transposase system to express TCRs targeting these hotspot neoantigens. The Houston-based firm is conducting a Phase I/II trial of these therapies at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The trial is enrolling patients with gynecological, colorectal, pancreatic, bile duct, and non-small cell lung cancers.
In addition to funding its pipeline of TCR therapies, Alaunos plans to use the proceeds for working capital, capital expenditures, and general corporate purposes.