Protox Completes Oversubscribed $5.8 Million Equity Financing
November 17, 2005
Vancouver, British Columbia - Protox Therapeutics Inc. announced today that it completed the second and final tranche of a non-brokered private placement, under which Protox issued an aggregate of 11,743,600 units at a price of $0.50 per unit for total gross proceeds of over $5.8 million.
As previously disclosed on November 4, 2005, the Board of Directors of Protox approved increasing the size of the offering from $4 million to $5.5 million. The first tranche of the offering comprising 9,091,600 units for gross proceeds of over $4.5 million closed on November 5, 2005. The second tranche of 2,652,000 units on the same terms for total proceeds of over $1.3 million closed today.
Each unit comprises one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant shall entitle the holder to purchase one common share of Protox Therapeutics Inc. at a price of $0.65 for a period of 24 months from the closing date of the private placement.
Proceeds of the offering will be used by Protox to fund proposed Phase I clinical trials, for research and development and general working capital purposes.
Included in the second tranche of the private placement, Dr. Fahar Merchant, President and CEO of Protox purchased 800,000 units under the same terms as the other purchasers. Dr. Merchant abstained from voting on resolutions approving the increase of the offering passed by the board of directors of Protox. Rosemina Merchant, Protox' Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs purchased 950,000 units under the same terms as the other purchasers.
Pursuant to the terms of the non-brokered placement for the second tranche, the Company will pay finder's fees of $22,275 and will issue 4,950 warrants as compensation on the same terms as those issued in the financing. All securities issued in connection with the first closing will be subject to a four month hold period which expires on March 5, 2006 in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities laws. All securities issued in connection with the second closing will be subject to a four month hold period which expires on March 17, 2006 in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities laws.
The directors and officers of the Company acquired 420,000 of the units issued under the first tranche of the financing and 1,750,000 units under the second tranche of the financing. In order to comply with OSC Policy 61-501, the Company advises that this participation by its directors and officers was not finalized 21 or more days prior to the closing and, therefore, a material change report was not filed in advance of the closing.
About Protox Therapeutics
Protox Therapeutics Inc. is developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other indications by engineering the naturally occurring bacterial protein Proaerolysin, which kills cells by puncturing their cell membrane after activation by proteases at the tumour site (PORxinÔ). The Company believes that its engineering approach will produce targeted cancer therapeutics that may have greater efficacy and fewer side effects than existing treatments.
For more information contact:
Terry Vanderkruyk
Director, Investor Relations
Protox Therapeutics Inc.
604-688-4376 tel
604-789-0844 cell
604-688-0173 fax
Email tvanderkruyk@protoxtherapeutics.com
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this press release. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements respecting the Company’s business, capital, research and development, and potential future products, which statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, such as “expect”, “to generate”, “moving forward”, “intends”, “committed to”, “moving”, “developing”, “believe” or the negative thereof or any other variations thereon or, or that events or conditions “will,”, “can”, “to”, “may,” “could” or “should” occur, or comparable terminology referring to future events or results. The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, including, without limitation, the need for extensive additional research and development, which is costly and time-consuming and may not produce anticipated or useful results; scientific research and development risks; the risk of technical obsolescence; intellectual property risks; manufacturing and marketing risks; partnership/strategic alliance risks; the effect of competition; the need for regulatory approvals, including without limitation, FDA approvals, which is not assured; product liability and insurance risks; the need for future human clinical trials, the occurrence and success of which is not assured; changes in business strategy or development plans; and the need for additional capital, which may not be obtained; and the fact that the Company may not produce any products or if it does, that such products may not be commercially successful; any of which could cause actual results to vary materially from current results or the Company’s anticipated future results. See the Company’s prospectus and other documents filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Administrators at www.sedar.com from time to time for a further discussion of these and other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from results referred to in forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this press release.
