SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France: Nicox SA, an international ophthalmology company, today announced a financing through a private placement via the issuance of 6,849,316 new ordinary shares, each share with an attached warrant to acquire 6,849,316 additional new ordinary shares, at an offering price of €1.46 per share and associated warrant exercisable at a price of €1.70 (unit), with anticipated gross proceeds of €10 million, representing net proceeds of approximately €8.9 million, excluding the potential exercise of the associated warrants.
In parallel with this financing, Nicox exercised its option to extend the period of interest-only payment of its existing Kreos Capital debt by 6 months to January 1, 2024. Capital repayments will therefore recommence from February 1, 2024. This extension was conditional upon NCX 470 meeting the primary objective of non-inferiority to latanoprost in the recently reported Mont Blanc Phase 3 trial.
The Company was previously financed to mid-November 2023. Proceeds from this equity financing, together with the extension of the period of interest-only payment of the Kreos debt, are expected to extend the cash runway to mid-May 2024. This cash runway is based exclusively on the development of NCX 470. The calculation does not include any potential proceeds from the exercise of the warrants included in the private placement (the exercise of which are not under the Company’s control), which could provide an additional €11.6 million in proceeds if they were to be fully exercised.
The Nicox Group had cash and cash equivalents of €25.6 million (excluding the proceeds of this financing) as of September 30, 2022 and outstanding debt of €21.4 million (including €18.6 million in the form of a bond financing agreement with Kreos signed in January 2019, a €2.0 million credit agreement guaranteed by the French State, and granted in August 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and financial lease agreements for €0.8 million). The Nicox Group’s cash position after this private placement would amount to approximately €31 million.
All of the figures related to the cash and debt position of the Nicox Group as of September 30, 2022 are unaudited.
Nicox has carried out a specific review of its liquidity risk and considers that the Company has sufficient net working capital to meet its cash requirements for the next twelve months and is financed until mid-May 2024, based exclusively on the development of NCX 470.
Upcoming milestones on key development programs
- Denali Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating NCX 470 in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension: Topline results currently expected in 2025
- Initiation of two new Phase 3b clinical trials investigating the dual mechanism of action (nitric oxide and prostaglandin analog) in IOP lowering and potential retinal benefits of NCX 470: planned in H1 2023