Fresh off its recent Bioentrepreneur of the Year Award win, London biopharmaceutical company Lipoxen Plc announced it has raised £2.6m in new funding.

The vaccine and oncology drug developer secured its investment from the Serum Institute of India Limited (SIIL) through a subscription agreement and associated warrant agreement.

Under terms of the agreement, Lipoxen has agreed to issue to SIIL 10,000,000 ordinary shares in the company at a subscription price of 26p per share, which is conditional upon the admission of the subscription shares to trading on AIM.

SIIL is a beneficial holder of 4.10% of Lipoxen’s current issued share capital and will hold approximately 12% of its enlarged issued share capital following admission to AIM.

“Serum Institute of India is one of the worlds largest manufacturer of vaccines and is committing large sums to become a leading player in biologics,” said M. Scott Maguire, chief executive officer of Lipoxen.

“This combination makes Serum an ideal fit for Lipoxen’s twin novel technologies in the field of vaccines and biologics. The coupling of Serum’s vast manufacturing infrastructure with Lipoxen’s novel technologies make for a powerful partnership that positions our companies as potential key players in the world of vaccines and protein drugs.”

He added that the funds raised through the subscription will allow Lipoxen to drive clinical development of its pipeline of potential protein drugs and vaccines into clinical trials and appoint a leading biologic Contract Research Organisation.

It will also allow Lipoxen to recruit additional laboratory staff in order to capitalize on the potential to broaden the Company's revenue generating collaborations.

Lipoxen has also entered into a warrant agreement with SIIL that will grant SIIL the right to subscribe for up to 2.7m ordinary shares in Lipoxen for a period of two years from 3 August at a subscription price of 35p per share, which would give SIIL approximately 14% of the enlarged issued share capital of the company.

As part of these agreements, SIIL has also been granted the right to appoint a non-executive director to Lipoxen’s board, which may only be exercised in the event SIIL holds no less than 12% of the total issued share capital of the company.

© Crimson Business Ltd. 2006