Eloxx Pharmaceuticals raises $50m on Nasdaq

News| Globes

The company is developing a drug for treatment of cystic fibrosis.

Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, which develops drugs for rare genetic diseases, announced that it has raised $50 million at $9.75 per share, 8% lower than yesterday’s market price. The company will be listed on Nasdaq following its financing round. Eloxx, which merged a year ago with a stock exchange shell listed on the over-the-counter index in the US, was previously controlled by former Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.  chairperson Phillip Frost. Eloxx was one of Frost’s few endeavors in recent years other than OPKO, to which he has devoted most of his efforts. Eloxx raised $24 million at the time of the merger in a round led by Frost. Eloxx’s share price has risen 30% this year, boosting its market cap before the current round to $279 million. In August, several months after merging with the stock exchange shell, Eloxx raised $8 million from European fund LSP.In addition to Frost, Eloxx shareholders familiar to the Israeli market includes Pontifax Venture Capital and Gilad Shabtai, one of the most prominent investors in Viber, sold three years ago for $900 million. Shabtai recently increased his stake in Eloxx to 9% in a stock exchange transaction that preceded the publication of the shelf prospectus for the current offering.Product for treatment of #cysticfibrosis

Eloxx’s leading product is designed for treatment of cystic fibrosis. The company has developed technology capable of overcoming certain genetic “errors” created in the body. This approach is ostensibly suitable for a very broad range of congenital diseases resulting from a single genetic defect.

The company reported in its financial statements that it wanted to begin Phase II clinical trials of its drug for cystic fibrosis this year. It also plans to begin Phase II trials of a drug for treatment of cystinosis, which features accumulation of excess proteins in body tissue. The technology has already passed a Phase I trials for verification of its safety, and publication of the results of this trial is expected soon.

Eloxx was founded with support from Pontifax, and was managed until recently by founder and Pontifax partner Dr. Silvia Noiman. Eloxx is now managed by Robert Ward of the US, whose most recent position was CEO of Raduis Health.

According to its 2017 reports, Eloxx had $24 million in cash as of the end of 2017, after losing $21.2 million during the year.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on April 26, 2018

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Source: https://www.globes.co.il/en/article-eloxx-pharmaceuticals-raises-50m-on-nasdaq-1001233261