A Raleigh pharmaceutical company is raising money as it moves its lead drug into a late-stage study.
9 Meters Biopharma (Nasdaq: NMTR) this week closed a stock offering that will land the company $5 million in gross proceeds. The offering gives the company additional capital as it launches a phase 3 study and prepares to submit an application to move an early-stage program into the clinic.
The company entered an agreement for the offering of about 3.13 million shares and warrants to purchase about 6.25 million shares at a combined purchase price of $1.60 per share. The warrants will have an exercise price of $1.35 per share and can be exercised immediately.
H.C. Wainwright & Co. is the exclusive placement agent for the offering, which closed Wednesday.
During a virtual presentation Wednesday at the Oppenheimer 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference, 9 Meters CEO John Temperato said the company is pleased to complete this raise in a challenging market. The funds will help provide a runway as the company makes progress on its clinical and preclinical programs and looks to secure partnerships to advance its lead asset.
Prior to this offering, 9 Meters last reported cash and cash equivalents of about $15.9 million as of Sept. 30.
The company is developing its lead drug, vurolenatide, as a treatment for short bowel syndrome, a rare disease with limited treatment options that affects about 20,000 patients in the U.S. After disclosing positive results from a phase 2 study last year, 9 Meters is moving vurolenatide forward into a phase 3 study involving 120 patients. The company expects to have data from this study in the second half of 2024, according to Wednesday's presentation.
As for its earlier stage programs, 9 Meters is schedule to meet with U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials to outline the company's path toward submitting an investigational new drug application later this year. This would allow the company to move its preclinical program NM-136, aimed at treating obesity disorders, into a phase 1 study, which would be a significant inflection point for the company, Temperato said.
The company in October completed a reverse stock split to regain compliance with a Nasdaq listing rule establishing a minimum bid price for companies. As of Wednesday afternoon, shares for the company were trading around $1.42.
