Theranexus, a French biotech company that develops drugs for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, announced its listing on Euronext Growth (ticker code: ALTHX). Theranexus was part of the first TechShare class of 2015, and is the third company in the programme to go public, joining a community of over 330 tech companies listed on Euronext.
Founded in 2013 by researchers at the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), Theranexus is a biopharmaceutical company that develops drug candidates to be used in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) disorders – including narcolepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and neuropathic pain. Theranexus has successfully identified the key role that non-neuronal cells (or “glial cells”) play in how neurons respond to CNS drugs. The company designs and develops ground-breaking drugs that act simultaneously on both cell types within the brain.
Theranexus’ unique patented technology is designed to increase the efficacy of previously approved and marketed CNS drugs by combining them with glial cell modulators. By combining and repurposing drugs in this way, the company can substantially cut development time and cost – thereby boosting its drug candidates’ chances of making it to the market. The proprietary, scalable Theranexus platform is able to generate a variety of high value-added proprietary drugs for several therapeutic indications. Theranexus is currently developing three candidate drugs for four indications. THN102, the most advanced one, is already in phase II clinical trials.
Theranexus was listed through the admission to trading on 30 October 2017. The company has a total of 3,065,390 shares, including 1,262,194 new shares issued as part of a Global Offering, raised €19.6 million after full exercise of the extension clause, which may rise to €21.0 million if the over-allotment option is fully exercised.
The Offering price was set at €15.50 per share. The company’s total market capitalisation the day of its IPO was €47.5 million.
Franck Mouthon, Theranexus Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, said:
We would like to thank the institutional investors and individuals who believe in our company and took part in our IPO. And we would especially like to thank our long-standing shareholders who have renewed their support, giving us their full backing for our ambitious growth strategy. The funds we raised will let us continue to proactively develop and leverage our platform and portfolio of drug candidates.
TechShare is a pan-European programme launched by Euronext in 2015 to help leaders of tech SMEs to better understand financial markets and how they work. Spanning individual coaching sessions, talks and workshops, the ten-month course enabled Theranexus to weigh the benefits of going public as a way to finance its growth strategy.