Verona Pharma raised US-$77.8m at NASDAQ

The NASDAQ listing was part of the company’s global offering of an aggregate of 47,399,001 new ordinary shares and 1,255,001 ordinary shares at a price of £1.32 per ordinary share at London’s AIM (VRP). The ADSs are being offered in a registered public offering in the US and the ordinary shares are being offered in a concurrent private placement in Europe and other countries outside of the US and Canada. In addition, Verona Pharma has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 865,200 ADSs on the same terms and conditions.The closings of the ADS offering and the private placement are expected to occur on 2 May.

Jefferies and Stifel were acting as joint book-running managers for the Global Offering. Wedbush PacGrow and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey were acting as co-managers.

The company expects results of a Phase IIa trail of ist lead candidate RPL554 in  COPD patients at the end of this year. Phase II results of the nebulized formulation of the phosphodiesterase ¾ blocker as cystic fibrosis monotherapy are set to be announced in Q1/2018. In addition to its bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory properties, RPL554 also activates CFTR, the protein behind the genetic defect in cystic fibrosis.