NEW YORK – Sanofi has made a $30 million equity investment in MeiraGTx as part of the genetic medicine company's offering of ordinary shares.
MeiraGTx, which is headquartered in New York, announced the financing Monday when reporting Q2 2024 financial results.
MeiraGTx is selling 12.5 million ordinary shares at a price of $4 per share, the gross proceeds of which will be about $50 million. In addition to Sanofi, healthcare and biotech investment firm Perceptive Advisors purchased shares as part of the offering, as well as other healthcare funds, according to MeiraGTx.
"The additional funds will allow us to accelerate development of our riboswitch in vivo delivery platform to the clinic with our completely novel and differentiated approach to treating obesity and metabolic disease," MeiraGTx President and CEO Alexandria Forbes said in a statement. MeiraGTx is developing therapeutic candidates for obesity and metabolic disease using its riboswitch gene regulation technology platform, which are in a preclinical stage of development.
Other programs in MeiraGTx's pipeline are nearing pivotal trials. The company said it will begin discussing Phase III trials of its gene therapy candidate for Parkinson's disease with global regulatory agencies later this year. The gene therapy is designed to deliver a functional copy of the GAD gene to the brain to normalize motor circuits and improve Parkinson's symptoms.
MeiraGTx also has reached agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration on requirements to use its ongoing Phase II AQUAx2 trial as a pivotal trial for an investigational gene therapy it's developing for radiation-induced xerostomia, or dry mouth, that delivers a functional copy of the AQP1 gene. The company said that clinical trial could support a biologics license application filing in 2026.
As of June 30, MeiraGTx had cash and cash equivalents of roughly $100 million, as well as about $1.6 million in receivables due from an asset purchase agreement with Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. The firm expects that those funds, other expected near-term milestones from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, proceeds from the new offering, and tax incentive receivable will fund operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into Q2 2026.