3 May 2017
N4 Pharma Plc
("N4 Pharma" or the "Company")
Admission and First Day of Dealings
N4 Pharma Plc (AIM: N4P), a specialist pharmaceutical company which reformulates existing drugs and vaccines to improve their performance, is pleased to announce the readmission today of the Company's ordinary shares to trading on AIM and the commencement of dealings in the New Ordinary Shares under the ticker N4P ("Admission").
Summary:
· Change of name to N4 Pharma Plc (formerly Onzima Ventures Plc) effective
· £1.5 million (gross) raised by way of a placing of 21,428,571 New Ordinary Shares at 7p per share
· The number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately after Admission will be 71,714,258 giving the Company a market capitalisation of £5 million at the placing price of 7p per ordinary share
· The net proceeds of the placing will be used to fund development of additional patent applications for reformulations of a wide range of generic drugs, to undertake clinical trials for N4 Pharma's reformulation of sildenafil, commonly known as Viagra, and for working capital purposes
Defined terms used in this announcement shall have the same meaning as in the Company's admission document published on 13 April 2017, copies of which are available at: www.n4pharma.com
Nigel Theobald, CEO of N4 Pharma, commented: "I am delighted that the acquisition has been completed after what has been a difficult few months for Onzima's shareholders. Today's listing on AIM marks an important milestone in the continued growth of N4 Pharma and I am determined to reward the patience of existing shareholders and look forward to rewarding those new shareholders who have joined us as part of the Admission.
"Reformulating drugs that are either off patent or coming off patent enables us to improve the experience for their end users in a number of potential ways, but in so doing ensuring we have patent protection around these new versions of the products. Our immediate focus is on the reformulation of sildenafil, commonly known as Viagra, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, a market which had global annual sales in 2016 of approximately $4.6 billion* and more will follow in the coming months.
"The Board has extensive experience in this field, both from a pharmaceutical and commercial point of view and, in Opal IP, we have the ideal partner for our patent work.
"Our vaccine delivery system continues to be encouraging and we will demonstrate its point of difference with a view to 'launching' it to the vaccine community later this year."
*source: Evaluate Pharma
Enquiries:
N4 Pharma CEO, Nigel Theobald |
Via Alma PR |
Stockdale Securities Tom Griffiths |
Tel: +44(0)207 601 6100 |
Beaufort Securities Elliot Hance |
Tel: +44(0)207 382 8300 |
Alma PR Josh Royston Robyn Fisher |
Tel: +44(0)778 090 1979 Tel: +44(0)754 070 6191 |
About N4 Pharma
N4 Pharma was formed in 2014 by Nigel Theobald, the former Chief Executive of AIM quoted Oxford Pharmascience Group plc. It is a specialist pharmaceutical company which reformulates existing drugs and vaccines to improve their performance.
N4 Pharma's reformulation work falls under two divisions:
• generic, already commercialised, drugs; and
• delivery of novel and existing vaccines.
N4 Pharma has identified a number of established drugs that could be improved upon through its reformulation techniques. N4 Pharma's most advanced reformulation is for sildenafil, widely marketed as Viagra, where N4 Pharma is seeking to improve the speed at which the drug takes effect whilst also extending its duration of action.
N4 Pharma's reformulation approach should take approximately three years to obtain regulatory approval as opposed to the traditional process for new drugs of on average ten years. The cost and risk profile of this model is also significantly less than the traditional process. N4 Pharma's business model is to take reformulated drugs from its portfolio through to the stage where it will license its newly reformulated drugs to pharmaceutical companies to commercialise them. N4 Pharma's revenues should be derived from up front milestone and royalty payments associated with the licence.