Another AIM defection as BiVictriX plans to delist
BiVictriX's chief executive Tiffany Thorn
The list of UK biotechs deciding to abandon listings on the AIM exchange in the UK just lengthened, after BiVictriX said it wants to cancel its shares and go private.
The company said it had taken the decision because it was harder to raise financing as a publicly traded company than it would be if it was privately held – money that it needs to progress its pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer.
"The board has concluded that the current public market valuation does not reflect the scale of our potential," said chief executive Tiffany Thorn in a statement. "The directors believe that, as a private company, BiVictriX is likely to have access to a larger quantum of future funding, to enable the business to meet key value inflection points."
BiVictriX – which is based on the Alderley Park campus near Macclesfield originally owned by AstraZeneca – will seek shareholder approval for the delisting from the London Stock Exchange's junior market at a meeting on 29th August.
It is developing a new class of bispecific ADCs, which are designed to offer greater selectivity and potency than current drugs, as well as reduced side effects, and it is notable that its difficulties in raising financing come at a time when the ADC class as a whole is white hot, with big-ticket funding rounds and pharma partnerships being announced almost every week.
BiVictriX's pipeline is still at the preclinical stage, headed by BVX001, a CD7xCD33 candidate for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and BVX002 for ovarian cancer and other solid tumours, which has an undisclosed mechanism.
In its statement, BiVictriX said it had positive initial FDA interactions with the FDA about starting clinical trials of BVX001, but "requires significant funds to be able to proceed." As of the end of June, its cash reserves were just £1.7 million ($2.2 million) and it believes current equity market conditions will not support the size of financing it will need to move the programme forward.
The biotech contrasts that with the recent £90 million raise by fellow UK company Myricx Bio, another ADC developer, which it notes is "at a similar stage to BiVictriX."
BiVictriX's AIM proposal follows similar moves from Destiny Pharma, e-Therapeutics, Redx Pharma, and C4X Discovery, which have all said in recent months that they would seek a return to private ownership, with e-Therapeutics also suggesting that could be the first stage before a listing in the US.
The spate of delisting decisions follows a slump in new issues on the AIM during 2023 – hitting lows not seen in more than 20 years – as well as a downturn in secondary financings and low trading values.
