Addex IPO four times oversubscribed

IPO

Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd got its IPO away very convincingly, pricing the offer at the top end of the range at CHF73 per share, raising CHF 137 million in an issue that was four times oversubscribed.

The company, which is developing allosteric modulators (which can control proteins), issued 1,875,000 new shares, resulting in a free float of about 32 percent of the issued share capital after the offering, excluding the overallotment. The market capitalisation is CHF 428 million (€258.4 million) at the offer price.

Vincent Mutel, CEO and co-founder of Geneva-based Addex, said, “The success of our IPO is a clear mandate for us to bring our allosteric modulators to patients. We are looking forward to advancing our pipeline of three products in clinical trials and eight preclinical programs, placing emphasis on our lead compound, ADX10059.”

The IPO consisted of a public offering in Switzerland and private placements to institutional investors elsewhere.

Addex’s allosteric modulator discovery platform is broadly applicable and scaleable, and can address targets that have not been accessible to classical approaches.

The discovery platform has been validated through a collaboration with a member of the Johnson & Johnson group to discover and develop allosteric modulators for the treatment of anxiety and schizophrenia.

The most advanced product in the in house portfolio, ADX10059, has completed two phase IIa clinical trials and demonstrated clinically and statistically significant efficacy in both gastroesophageal reflux disease and migraine. Another phase IIa clinical trial with ADX10059 in acute anxiety is expected to be completed in the second half of 2007.

The company has an in-licensed product, ADX10061, in a US phase IIa clinical trial for smoking cessation. A third product, ADX48621 is in phase I clinical testing and may be developed to treat depression, anxiety and inflammatory pain.

Addex has eight products in preclinical development, including allosteric modulators of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor for diabetes and follicle-stimulating hormone receptor for fertility. Other preclinical programmes address Parkinson’s disease, cognitive impairment, schizophrenia and inflammatory pain.