Stock has had a nice opening week. May be worth following, read the PR and judge for yourself.
SYNSORB Biotech Inc. ("SYNSORB") announced that its subsidiary,
Oncolytics Biotech Inc. ("Oncolytics"), has concluded an initial public
offering on the Alberta Stock Exchange, raising gross proceeds of
$3.4 million. Trading began on November 8th under the symbol
"ONC".
SYNSORB completed the acquisition of Oncolytics in April of 1999
for $2.5 million primarily through the issuance of common shares
of SYNSORB, with a commitment to future payments contingent upon
the achievement of specific product development milestones.
Oncolytics concluded private placements in July and August,
raising total gross proceeds from the two private placements of
$1.95 million. The public offering is the third phase in
SYNSORB's strategic plan to finance this subsidiary so that it
does not draw on SYNSORB's core resources. After conclusion of
the private placements and the public offering, SYNSORB holds
49.5% of Oncolytics issued and outstanding shares. Oncolytics has
assumed the initial obligations for future milestone payments.
"We are very pleased that we have been able to finance the
development of Oncolytic's Reolysin technology in a way that does
not detract from our focus on our core products, SYNSORB Cd(R)and
SYNSORB Pk(R)", said Dr. David Cox, President & CEO of SYNSORB.
"The strategy also has the benefit of creating a substantial asset
for our shareholders in the form of Oncolytics equity. Naturally,
we remain very excited about the potential value of Reolysin as it
begins the clinical development process. Oncolytics now has
sufficient capital to see them well into that process."
SYNSORB is a Canadian-based pharmaceutical company dedicated
to drug development and manufacturing. The Company has two
late-stage products, both of which are based on SYNSORB'S
proprietary carbohydrate chemistry platform technology. SYNSORB
Pk(R) is in Phase III clinical trials, and is designed to prevent
the progression to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) in children who
have contracted verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) infections, including
E. coli O157:H7. SYNSORB Cd(R) will commence Phase III trials in
the first part of next year, and is designed to treat recurrent
antibiotic-associated diarrhea (CDAD), a common hospital acquired
infection. SYNSORB has built a cGMP-compliant manufacturing
facility that has the capacity to meet or exceed the expected
global demand for the Company's products. A pipeline of future
products is accessible through subsidiary companies and SYNSORB's
carbohybrid program.
Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company whose focus
is the development of the reovirus known as REOLYSIN as a potential
cancer therapeutic. The human reovirus infects and kills cancer
cells with an activated Ras pathway. Ras is an important
component of a pathway controlling normal growth and
differentiation of a cell and when activated, may account for a
large proportion of human tumors. Researchers believe that
targeting this pathway could have broad potential in the treatment
of many cancers. Oncolytics researchers demonstrated that
reovirus was selectively able to kill cancer cells with this
particular activation and successfully demonstrated that the virus
could kill human cancer cells in vitro derived from breast,
prostate, pancreatic and brain tumors, as well as being able to
treat tumors successfully in a number of animal models.
Oncolytics is anticipating the commencement of a Phase I clinical
trial on reovirus in the first part of 2000. Oncolytics currently
has 13.65 million shares outstanding.
This release contains certain forward-looking statements which
involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and other
factors not under the Company's control which may cause actual
results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from the results, performance or expectations
implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors
include results of current or pending clinical trials, actions by
the FDA/HPB and those factors detailed in the Company's
registration statement on Form 20 F filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
TEL: (416) 815-0700 ex 222 Jason Hogan, Investor Relations
FAX: (416) 815-0080 The Equicom Group
TEL: (800) 385-5451
E-mail: jhogan@equicomgroup.com
TEL: (403) 283-5900 Dr. David Cox, President & CEO
FAX: (403) 283-5907 Mr. Doug Froom, Vice President
Business Development |
