Accentia raises $8.7M to support drug development

Florida, USA-based Accentia Biopharmaceuticals has entered into definitive agreements for a private placement offering of convertible preferred stock and warrants to new and existing institutional investors for gross proceeds of around $8.7 million before fees and expenses. Rodman & Renshaw acted as the exclusive placement agent.

Accentia intends to use the proceeds as working capital, including supporting drug development, regulatory strategies and marketing plans. Chief executive Frank O'Donnell, elaborated: "we believe we are on the verge of achieving a series of very important milestones, including reporting the unblinded results from our pivotal Phase III clinical trial of SinuNase [a novel application and formulation of a known sinusitis treatment] in March. In order to be best positioned to take advantage of anticipated positive results, there are time-sensitive priorities that, if started immediately, should accelerate our commercialization strategies. We expect that this funding will support such activities for SinuNase including preparations for a potential New Drug Application, commencing an eight-week clinical study of a pump spray formulation for mild-to-moderate sinusitis and organizing a confirmatory Phase III study for the lavage formulation."

SinuNase targets the treatment of chronic sinusitis, a debilitating disease that affects more than 60 million sufferers in the USA and Europe, the company noted.