UK biotech ReNeuron quits AIM as financing push fails

ReNeuron has become the latest UK biotech planning to cancel its listing on the AIM exchange, saying it has been unable to raise the capital it desperately needs to keep its business afloat.

The troubled company – which was placed into administration earlier this year and had its shares suspended on the AIM – said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that it “is not in the interests of existing shareholders to progress with a highly dilutive fundraise and continue to incur the additional costs and regulatory obligations of being listed on AIM.”

As an alternative, it now wants to cancel its AIM listing altogether and transition to a privately held company as it tries to lift itself out of administration. Given trading on the exchange has already been suspended for six months, that will be a rapid process and should occur on 2nd September.

The company’s administrators have said they will “continue discussions with creditors to seek to determine the solvency of the business,” which struggled to advance its stem cell therapy programmes and changed tack in mid-2022 to concentrate its efforts on its proprietary exosome drug delivery platform.

“There are a number of possible options available to the company, including, but not limited to, continuation as a private company,” according to the filing.

ReNeuron was founded in the late 1990s and floated in 2000, but only secured approval to start clinical trials of a stem cell therapy – for stroke – in 2009. Progress was glacial but the programme eventually advanced into phase 2 before being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the meantime, ReNeuron turned its attention to an in-licensed programme for eye disorder retinitis pigmentosa, but that was abandoned before the pivot to the drug delivery focus. The company says its exosome platform can be used to deliver a wide variety of payloads, including nucleic acids, proteins, and small molecules, including into inaccessible areas like the central nervous system.

If it can reach agreements with creditors, the plan is to continue operations with a reduced team, led by chairman Iain Ross and chief scientific officer Randolph Corteling, assuming it has “sufficient cash to exploit and potentially commercialise” the platform.

ReNeuron is the latest in a lengthening list of UK biotechs saying that it is too challenging to raise capital on the AIM and they would be better off as private companies, although it should be noted the others are all in a much stronger operating position.

At last count, that list includes BiVictrix Therapeutics, Destiny Pharma, e-Therapeutics, Redx Pharma, and C4X Discovery. e-Therapeutics has suggested that would be the first stage before a listing in the US.