October 30, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Durham, North Carolina-based Chimerix , one of the larger players in the Ebola virus therapeutics market, announced on Wednesday that it will be selling $105 million in stock as part of a $150 million shelf offering. The money raised will go toward paying for current and planned clinical trials for brincidofovir, an antiviral drug.
Chimerix expects to allow the underwriters a 30-day option to acquire up to about $15,750,000 of extra shares of its common stock.
“The offering is subject to market conditions,” the company wrote in an statement, “and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the size or terms of the offering. Chimerix anticipates using the net proceeds from the offering to fund its research and development efforts and for general corporate purposes, including working capital.”
Early development for brincidofovir was funded by a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) valued up to $81.1 million. Granted in 2011, it was extended in September 2014 with another $17 million.
“We plan to increase our research and development expenses for the foreseeable future as we expand the development of brincidofovir and our brincidofovir commercial manufacturing,” the company said in its filing. “In particular, we expect our research and development expenses for 2015 to increase substantially relative to current levels.”
Brincidofovir has shown broad-spectrum activity in vitro against all five families of DNA viruses that affect humans. Those include cytomegalovirus (CMV), adenovirus (AdV), BK virus and herpes simplex viruses.
On Oct. 16 Chimerix announced updates on several ongoing clinical trials, including CMX16669 for BK virus and cytomegalovirus, brincidofovir for Ebola virus, adenovirus and smallpox.
“Our team of virologists and chemists with extensive expertise in antiviral research has delivered a unique clinical candidate,” said Michael Rogers, Chimerix’s chief development officer in a statement. “Our discovery program is focused on leveraging our library of novel structures designed to hit antiviral targets, while harnessing our complementary drug delivery lipid technology which has a wide range of potential applications.”
Brincidofovir, based on the injectable antiviral cidofovir (Vistide) developed by Gilead Sciences , interferes with viral replication.
Cidofovir has been linked to greater risk of kidney damage; brincidofovir, which had lipid (fat) molecules attached, is absorbed more easily in the gut, decreasing toxic effects on the kidneys. The drug has been thoroughly studied in Phase 3 clinical trials for cytomegalovirus, which is at least partly why it has been used on an emergency basis in treating Ebola patients.
