NicOx launches €130 million rights issue

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French biotech NicOx SA has launched a €130 million rights issue, one the largest follow-on rounds in the history of the sector in Europe. This money will be used for the further clinical development of the company’s anti-inflammatory drugs, and in particular the lead compound, naproxcinod, which is in Phase III for clinical trials for the treatment of osteoarthritis.

“This important offering will support our strategy of building NicOx into a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on cardiometabolic and inflammatory disease areas,” said, Michele Garufi, Chairman and CEO of NicOx.

In contrast to the commercialisation strategy adopted by most European biotechs, Sophia Antipolis-based NicOx intends to launch and market naproxcinod itself.

The new shares in the Euronext-listed company will be priced on January 29.

Naproxcinod, is the first in a new class of anti-inflammatory drugs known as CINODs (COX-inhibiting nitric oxide-donators), which unlike existing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) appear to have no detrimental effect on blood pressure.

In October 2006, NicOx announced positive results from the first  Phase III clinical trial in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, which showed superiority to placebo on all three endpoints and a sustained reduction in blood pressure versus baseline and naproxen, an NSAID commonly prescribed for the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis.