NEW YORK – Oryzon Genomics on Tuesday said it secured €45 million ($48.9 million) in financing to advance its clinical programs and extend its cash runway.
Barcelona-based Oryzon inked an agreement with Nice & Green, in which the private Swiss investment firm will purchase bonds convertible into new shares that can be drawn in tranches of €5 million at Oryzon's discretion. The notes will mature at 48 months with zero interest and no associated warrants. New shares will be issued at 94 percent of the average daily volume-weighted average price of the period between conversions, never to exceed a 9.99 percent discount on the closing price prior to the date of the conversion. Oryzon may execute redemption of any or all notes at a premium of 3 percent.
Oryzon will use the funds to clinically advance therapies it is developing for central nervous system (CNS) disorders and cancer.
The firm began a Phase I trial of its lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1) inhibitor iadademstat with Astellas' Xospata (gilteritinib) in FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia in March. That trial is also supported by a €1.9 million non-refundable public grant Oryzon received to develop iadademstat in AML.
Oryzon CEO Carlos Buesa said in a statement that the funds will allow the company to "laser focus on the final execution of PORTICO," a Phase IIb trial of its other LSD1 inhibitor vafidemstat in borderline personality disorder.
The company is also using a precision medicine approach to advance vafidemstat in genetically defined patient groups with CNS disorders. This agent is undergoing testing in psychiatric disorders, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis. In a trial involving mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's patients, vafidemstat significantly reduced the inflammatory biomarker YKL40 after six and 12 months of treatment.