Alchemia raises $5m in share purchase plan

Brisbane biopharma Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has successfully raised AUD$5 million, closing its share purchase plan heavily oversubscribed. Earlier this month the company raised $14.6 million through a share placement. The funds will be used to accelerate Alchemia's drug discovery program, specifically to progress anti-cancer drug candidate ACL16907 from preclinical status to the completion of phase II clinical trials in 2008, and to advance an eye-disease candidate for age-related macular degeneration to the end of phase I clinical trials by 2007-08.

It will also be used to help identify new preclinical candidates using Alchemia's drug discovery platform

The offer of up to 4,545 shares at $1.10 per share was made to all registered shareholders in Australia and New Zealand on November 3, and taken up by more than 65 per cent of eligible shareholders. At time of writing Alchemia shares were trading at $1.19.