FLEMINGTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arno Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB:ARNI), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of therapeutics for cancer and other life threatening diseases, today announced that it has completed a private placement of its common stock and common stock purchase warrants that will result resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $2.8 million. The financing was led by the Company’s existing investors, including affiliates of Chairman, Arie Belldegrun, MD, OPKO Health, Inc., Commercial Street Capital LLC, Pontifax, Bonderman Family Limited Partnership, Perceptive Advisors LLC and Auriga Capital Management. The Company intends to use the proceeds from this financing to fund its ongoing clinical development of onapristone, its lead product candidate, and for general corporate purposes.
Alex Zukiwski, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Arno Therapeutics, commented, “We are very pleased to announce the closing of this financing. The proceeds will allow us to continue the clinical development of our lead product, onapristone, including enrollment in our ongoing phase 2 clinical trial in castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The Board of Directors and the management team are very grateful for the continued support shown by several of our existing investors who participated in this financing.”
Terms of Financing
The private placement was made pursuant to the terms of a securities purchase agreement entered into among the Company and the investors. Pursuant to the agreement, the Company sold units of its securities at a price of $0.35 per unit. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and a five-year warrant to purchase one-half of a share of common stock (rounded to the nearest share) at an exercise price of $0.4375 per share. In total, the securities purchase agreement covers 8.0 million shares of common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 4.0 million shares of common stock. The Company has closed on the sale of units having an aggregate purchase price of $2.3 million. The closing of the sale of the remaining securities, having an aggregate purchase price of approximately $500,000, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions set forth in the purchase agreement, including the effectiveness of a registration statement covering the resale of the shares and warrant shares. Further details of the financing have been described in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC by the Company on or about August 16, 2016.
The securities sold pursuant to the securities purchase agreement were done so in reliance on an exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under such act and applicable state securities laws or an applicable exemption from those registration requirements. The Company has agreed to file a registration statement covering the resale of the shares issued in the private placement, including the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.
Clinical Development Update
The Company’s ongoing phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the combination of onapristone plus Zytiga® (abiraterone acetate) in patients with CRPC has completed the lead-in phase at 30 mg BID of onapristone plus “full dose” abiraterone acetate (5 patients) and the independent data review committee (DRC) found the combination safe. The 50 mg BID of onapristone plus “full dose” abiraterone acetate dose level is current accruing patients in the UK and US, it is anticipated that the DRC will have safety data from first group of patients (maximum 6 patients) treated at the 50 mg BID dose of onapristone in combination with abiraterone acetate for review in September 2016.
About Arno Therapeutics
Arno Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative products for the treatment of cancer and other life threatening diseases. Arno has exclusive worldwide rights to develop and market three innovative product candidates. These compounds are in clinical or preclinical development as product candidates to treat hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, as well as infectious diseases. For more information about the company, please visit www.arnothera.com.
