Jan. 27 Quick Takes: $100M raise is latest step in Zymeworks revival
Plus A first for bioelectronic therapies by Galvani, and updates from Moderna, Cue, Epizyme, Provention, Ziopharm
Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE:ZYME; TSX:ZYME) has raised $100 million in the latest step in its New Year’s reset, in which the company has hired Kenneth Galbraith to succeed longtime CEO Ali Tehrani and adopted cost-cutting measures that include staff cuts of at least 25% by year-end. The B.C. biotech sold 9.2 million shares at $8 plus prefunded warrants to buy up to 3.3 million shares at $7.9999 apiece in a deal underwritten by Jefferies, Evercore ISI, Stifel, Wells Fargo Securities and Raymond James. Zymeworks shares fell 11% to $8.30 on Thursday.
Galvani Bioelectronics Ltd. has begun treating a rheumatoid arthritis patient using splenic nerve stimulation in what the company says is the first clinical trial of a bioelectronic therapy. The platform, which stimulates nerves specific and near to individual visceral organs central in disease, is being tested in separate studies in the U.S. and the U.K. in RA patients who are incomplete responders or intolerant to two or more anti-rheumatic drugs. Galvani was formed in a strategic partnership between GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) and Verily Life Sciences in 2016...