Ziopharm raises $50 million in follow-on
Ziopharm Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP) raised $50 million through the sale of 14.3 million shares at $3.50 in a follow-on underwritten by JPMorgan; JMP Securities; and Griffin Securities. Partner Intrexon Corp. (NYSE:XON) purchased 2.9 million Ziopharm shares, or $10 million worth of stock, in the offering. Ziopharm proposed the follow-on late Tuesday, when its share price was $4.93.
Ziopharm's Ad-RTS-IL-12 is in Phase II testing to treat metastatic melanoma and non-resectable recurrent or metastatic breast cancer, with preliminary data from both trials expected this quarter. The product is a DNA vector that contains an inducible promoter to control expression of the IL-12 gene. Ziopharm has exclusive, worldwide rights to Intrexon's synthetic biology technology to develop and commercialize DNA-based therapeutics for cancer indications. ...