Portfolio Update

RNS Number : 9527V

Woodford Patient Capital Trust PLC

11 April 2019

 

Woodford Patient Capital Trust plc

Portfolio update: Evofem raises $30m from PDL BioPharma

11 April 2019

Evofem Biosciences, a company in the Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) and

LF Woodford Equity Income Fund portfolios, has entered into a securities purchase agreement to raise up to $80 million through a private placement of common stock from new and existing investors, including a strategic investment from NASDAQ-listed PDL BioPharma (PDL). 

The investment is structured in two tranches, the first has secured $30m of funding from PDL and the second will provide further $50m from existing investors, including an option of $30m from PDL.

The financing, at a premium to the current share price, enables Evofem to maximise the opportunity for its contraceptive gel Amphora, which if approved, will be the first hormone-free, woman-controlled birth control method.

In December, Evofem announced that its Phase 3 clinical trial of Amphora successfully met its primary endpoint. It said at the time that the results "solidify Amphora's position as the most substantial birth control innovation in 20 years and a significant advancement for women and their sexual and reproductive health". The prescription contraceptive market is estimated to be worth $5.5bn.

Evofem plans to submit the Amphora new drug application to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the second quarter of 2019. If approved, it plans to commercialise this first-in-class birth control treatment in 2020, to help meet the needs of the 16.5 million women who are not using a contraceptive method but do not want to get pregnant - including women who cannot or will not use hormonal birth control methods. It will enable health care providers to offer patients an effective birth control method that is non-hormonal, on-demand, and woman-controlled.

Woodford Patient Capital Trust first invested in the then private company in November 2015. Evofem agreed a reverse takeover of Neothetics, in October 2017, and listed on Nasdaq in January 2018. As of 10 April 2019, it represented a 0.44% position in the portfolio. It is also held in the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (0.57%). For more analysis go to the stock's page on the Woodford website.

Link to initial release.

For further information please contact:

Four Broadgate

Roland Cross / Jonathan Atkins

020 3697 4200

[e-mail]

Notes to editors:

About Woodford Investment Management:

Woodford Investment Management Limited is an asset management company built on a founding philosophy of transparency and simplicity. Launched in May 2014, the company has £10.5 billion assets under management and advice. Further information can be found at https://woodfordfunds.com

Woodford Investment Management Ltd

9400 Garsington Road Oxford OX4 2HN

[phone]

[e-mail]

woodfordfunds.com

 

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