BioWorld International Correspondent

LONDON - Antisoma plc is raising £15.2 million (US$26.2 million) in a fully underwritten placing and open offer to fund the acquisition of new products and intensify development of existing programs.

CEO Glyn Edwards told BioWorld International, "This is not a fund raising we had to do, it is one we wanted to do. This will be the equivalent of acquiring a company one-third of our existing size."

Antisoma is expecting Phase III results of its lead product R1549 in the treatment of ovarian cancer in the first half of 2004, and Edwards conceded that some investors thought the fund raising was a hedge against a negative outcome. "This is not because we don't believe in [R1549]. The name of the game is getting a big product to market. We have got some great drugs in the current pipeline and we are going to add some more."

London-based Antisoma is issuing 38 million shares at 40 pence per share. "The discount is just under 10 percent, which I think is another sign of investors' faith in us," Edwards said.

That demonstrates the underlying strength Antisoma derives from its $43 million deal with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. signed in November 2002. Roche acquired the rights to four Antisoma products in clinical trials and an option on compounds that enter the clinic in the following five years, giving all Antisoma products that reach Phase II a route to market.

Part of the proceeds of the placing will go to speeding up development of a novel antibody-cytokine drug that Antisoma is co-developing with EMD Lexigen Research Center in Boston. The drug links Antisoma's huBC1 tumor-targeting antibody with Lexigen's antitumor cytokine, IL-12. The combination has shown antitumor activity in animal studies.

"IL-12 has been in the clinic, but intravenous administration causes serious side effects. Combined with huBC1 it can be given at lower doses," said Edwards.

Antisoma now will invest in setting up manufacturing facilities for the product, which Edwards hopes will enter clinical trials in 18 months.

The other spending plans include in-licensing one or more products in Phase I or Phase II trials; progressing more rapidly to clinical trials AS1406, a targeted apoptosis product; and broadening the Phase II trial program for AS1404, a vascular targeting agent.

Phase I dose-ranging studies of AS1404 are ongoing, but the drug has been tested already in more than 100 patients. Edwards said four Phase II trials, in different tumor types and in combination with different chemotherapeutics, will start promptly after the Phase I trial finishes in early 2004.

The new money gives Antisoma about £45 million in cash, which would last three years on current spending plans.