NeOnc Technologies has another go at a Nasdaq listing
NeOnc Technologies' founder, chief executive and chief scientific officer Thomas Chen
US biotech NeOnc Technologies has applied to list on the Nasdaq as it advances a portfolio of drugs to treat diseases affecting the central nervous system.
The Westlake Village, California-based biotech is developing treatments for brain cancers like glioma and meningioma, as well as cancers that have spread to the CNS from other parts of the body, based on a novel delivery platform that allows it to get drugs across the blood-brain barrier.
The direct listing attempt comes after NeOnc attempted an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq, seeking to raise $75 million from the offer of 6 million shares, which was withdrawn in June last year, according to a Renaissance Capital report.
NeOnc's direct listing prospectus indicates that the company will not raise new capital from the offering, as the 2.1 million shares of common stock will be sold by its current stable of shareholders.
It also did not disclose a reference price or anticipated timing of its listing, but confirmed it has agreements with investors to raise $10 million by issuing 625,000 shares in a private placement at $16 per share.
Companies that opt for a direct listing may avoid some of the restrictions that apply to IPOs, such as lock-up periods, whilst sidestepping some of the filing and registration responsibilities. They can still, however, get the benefits of greater visibility and access to future capital from going public, and offer an exit route for existing shareholders.
NeOnc has two products in development, namely NEO100 – a purified form of perillyl acid (POH) that is administered to brain cancer patients via intranasal delivery – and NEO212, a covalently conjugated molecule combining the chemotherapeutic drug temozolomide with POH.
The company is currently conducting a phase 2a trial of NEO100 in recurrent malignant glioma patients, as well as a similar Phase 2a trial in patients with malignant skull-based meningioma, along with exploring the use of POH to facilitate the delivery of other drugs.
In addition to NEO212, which started a phase 1/2 trial in 2023 as an oral treatment for brain metastases and is also being developed in an intranasal form, NeOnc is exploring the use of POH to deliver levodopa as a treatment for Parkinson's disease.
The company raised $18.5 million in a private financing round last June, raising its valuation to around $220 million and taking the total raised since its formation in 2008 to $31 million.
At the time, NeOnc's founder, chief executive, and chief scientific officer Thomas Chen – upon whose R&D the company's technology platform is based – said that NEO212 could have "a meaningful impact on solid tumour patients who develop uncontrolled brain metastasis and who are often excluded from traditional clinical trials."
