On February 24, 2020 Austin-based biotech firm Genprex is reported for more growth after raising about $25.5 million through two recent stock offerings (Press release, Genprex, FEB 24, 2020, View Source [SID1234554661]).

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Genprex announced Jan. 28 that it had sold about 7.62 million shares of its common stock for a total of $8 million. Last week, the company announced it had closed the sale of 5 million shares of its common stock for an additional $17.5 million.

Alliance Global Partners and Joseph Gunnar & Company were the lead placement and co-placement agents, respectively, for both deals, according to the company.

Genprex, which previously operated as Convergen LifeSciences, became a publicly traded company in 2018 through an IPO valued at about $6.4 million.

CEO Rodney Varner said the funding brought in from the two recent stock offerings will help Genprex begin two clinical trials involving the company’s licensed gene therapy technology, known as Oncoprex.

Varner said Genprex, which currently has six full-time employees, is looking to expand its executive team.

"We do plan to add several new executives in the coming months, and I anticipate that they will be extremely accomplished biotech executives who will be able to contribute materially in helping us not only conduct the upcoming clinical trials, but to also manage the growth of the company as we go forward," Varner said.

Oncoprex, which Genprex licensed from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is designed to treat cancers by injecting tumor suppressor genes that are wrapped in nanoparticles directly into a patient’s bloodstream, Varner said.

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The clinical trials planned for this year will involve testing Oncoprex in combination with two other existing therapies to check its effectiveness fighting cancer, Varner said.

In January, the U.S. Food and Drug administration granted a fast track designation for Oncoprex in combination with an existing FDA-approved therapy.

According to the FDA website, the status is "designed to facilitate the development, and expedite the review of drugs to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need."

"For a very small company like us, that’s an important validation of our technology," Varner said.

Receiving the FDA’s fast track status played a significant role in the company’s recent infusion of funding, Varner said.

The company’s shares closed Monday at $6.03, compared to 36 cents per share in mid January before it announced the fast track status.

"There is a lot of demand right now; people want to invest," Varner said. "But that wasn’t always the case and we have had stops and starts over the last decade."

Varner said Genprex is looking to add more treatments to its research and development pipeline. On Feb. 11, the company announced it had entered into an agreement with the University of Pittsburgh for a gene therapy treatment for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

"Our use of the funding is not limited to any particular technology; we can use it toward all of our technologies," Varner said.