Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, said it expects to raise between CA$2.5 million (US$1.9 million) and CA$5 million in a best efforts public offering of an undisclosed number of units intended to support up to three phase II trials. In a regulatory filing, the company said the funds will support phase II tests of NP-135 in inflammatory bowel disease and NP-135 in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis as well as preclinical research programs. Mackie Research Capital Corp. is acting as lead agent and sole bookrunner for the offering.

Annovis Bio Inc., a Berwyn, Penn.-based company founded in 2008 as QR Pharma Inc., filed to raise up to $11.5 million to run midstage studies of ANVS-401, an inhibitor of beta-amyloid precursor protein, tau synthesis, alpha-synuclein synthesis and huntingtin protein, for the potential oral treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Thinkequity, a division of Fordham Financial Management Inc., is the sole underwriter of the offering. Annovis plans to list its shares, which have yet to be priced, on Nasdaq under the ticker ANVS.