Hermogenyx shares soar on new partnership with Prevail Partners

Shares in biopharma group Hemogenyx surged on Monday after the company received a $0.83m investment from Prevail Partners as it continues to work on its planned clinical trial for leukaemia treatment.

Investment fund Prevail Partners purchased 11.1m shares at a price of 7.5 US cents a share (around 6p a share), representing a 240% premium to Hemogenyx's closing price on Friday.

It has entered into a master service and technology agreement (MSTA) with Prevail Partners' affiliate company, Prevail InfoWorks, whereby the latter will provide clinical services for Hemogenyx's upcoming Phase I study of its anti-FLT3 CAR-T cell treatment for people suffering with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

The stock was up 26% at 2.34p by 1401.

Hemogenyx said Prevail Partners' investment "will in large part defray the payment made by the company for the first stage of the work being undertaken by InfoWorks under the MSTA".

InfoWorks will provide clinical site coordination, project management, data management, clinical monitoring, and safety management services.

AML is the most common type of acute leukaemia in adults and has a five-year survival rate of less than 30%. It it currently treated using chemotherapy, but Hemogenyx's CAR-T cell treatment a "potentially more benign and effective form of therapy". CAR-T therapy is a new type of treatment in which a patient's own immune cells are modified to recognise and kill cancer cells.

"Prevail Partners' strategic investment in the company demonstrates their confidence in our CAR-T program and in our ability to execute the upcoming clinical study," said Hemogenyx's chief executive and co-founder Vladislav Sandler.