NEW YORK – Evaxion Biotech on Thursday priced a $15 million public offering of American Depositary Shares (ADS) and pre-funded warrants to purchase shares.
The firm will sell 3,750,000 of its ADS or warrants to allow for the purchase of up to the same number of ADS at $4.00 per share or warrant. The company said that MSD Global Health Innovation Fund, a corporate venture capital arm of Merck & Co. and an Evaxion shareholder since December 2023, is participating in this offering.
Each ADS represents 10 ordinary shares of the company. The warrants, with an exercise price of $4.00 per ADS, will be exercisable immediately upon issuance and will expire within five years of issuance. H.C. Wainwright is the exclusive placement agent for the offering, which is expected to close on Feb. 5.
Evaxion, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, said it will use the proceeds from the offering to advance its preclinical and clinical pipeline as well as for operating expenses and working capital. The firm is using its artificial intelligence-based drug development platform, AI-Immunology, to develop immunotherapies.
It has disclosed three oncology therapy candidates, two of which are in clinical trials. EVX-01 is a neoantigen cancer therapy being studied with Merck's checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in a Phase II trial in first-line metastatic and unresectable melanoma, and EVX-02 is a neoantigen cancer immunotherapy being studied with Bristol Myers Squibb's checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) in a Phase I trial in adjuvant treatment of patients with advanced resectable melanoma. The firm is also developing another immunotherapy candidate in preclinical studies for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
In 2022, Evaxion partnered with cancer genomics firm Personalis to use its immune profiling platform to identify relevant biomarkers of response to EVX-01 and Keytruda in a Phase II trial.
Last year, Evaxion received a noncompliance notice from Nasdaq because its shares closed below the minimum $1.00 per share requirement for 30 days. The firm was given until March 27, 2024, to regain compliance. The firm also raised $20 million from a financing agreement with Global Growth Holding in August to support development of its cancer vaccines.