Immutep raises $100m and signs with Merck on ‘blockbuster’ drug
Kylar LoussikianDeputy editor - BusinessJun 3, 2024 – 1.15pmListen to this article4 minImmutep says it is less than three years away from a potential “blockbuster drug” after raising $100 million to finalise late-stage trials of its lung cancer treatment.
Shares in the ASX-listed oncology therapy hopeful have risen some 45 per cent in the past 12 months as the company nears the commercialisation of its drug, Efti. The therapy is combined with another top-selling cancer treatment, Merck’s Keytruda, and coupled with chemotherapy to extend the life of patients.
Immutep chief executive Marc Voigt says there is a pathway to approval for the company’s lung cancer treatment by 2027.
Immutep told investors on Monday that it had also struck a collaboration agreement with Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, to test Efti with Keytruda in a Phase III trial. Earlier trials have shown the combination extended the survival of patients beyond Keytruda alone and reduced side effects.
Keytruda was approved for use in the United States in 2014, although it is known to have severe side effects including inflammation and pancreatitis.
Marc Voigt, Immutep’s chief executive, said the total market for the drug was $US24 billion ($36 billion). “If you are successful, it is a potential massive return,” he told The Australian Financial Review on Monday. “This is a potential blockbuster drug.”
AdvertisementMr Voigt said Immutep had two pathways to commercialisation.
“On one side, you have the drug development and clinical trials, this is the last stage before the drug is approved [and] we can apply for approval in early 2027,” he said.
“However, it happens that biotech companies are being acquired, it is more unlikely that the biotech brings the product to the market itself. These are both valid scenarios.”
The company said it would issue 189 million new shares at 38¢ each, netting $72 million at a 13.3 per cent discount to its 30-day average price. It will also raise $28.2 million through an entitlement offer open to institutional and retail shareholders.
The Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported that a number of significant investors had taken up the company’s raise in June last year including IFM Investors, Australian Ethical, Fidelity, Antares Capital, Perennial and Milford. A handful of health-focused funds, including Platinum, also joined the register.
It will use $60 million of the new funding on clinical trials – not only for non-small cell lung cancer but also head and neck, and breast cancers – while $28 million will be put towards developing commercial-scale manufacturing processes for Efti.
Lung cancer is the second most common and non-small cell lung cancer, which Efti targets, accounts for some 80 per cent of the total. An estimated 1.87 million people per year are affected by lung cancer, the highest cause of death among all cancers.
Russell Howard, Immutep’s chairman, said the company’s clinical program had “advanced significantly over the last year”.
“Our lead product, Efti, has continued to deliver encouraging efficacy and safety results in multiple disease settings, in different therapeutic combinations,” Dr Howard said. “Our confidence has deepened in Efti’s promise across lung, breast and head and neck cancer.”
Immutep will have enough cash to continue until the end of 2026, he added.
The company’s shares last traded at 45¢, and have risen some 10¢, or 28 per cent, since the start of the year and about 45 per cent over the past 12 months.
