Race Oncology raises $1.8m to restore lost cancer drug

Drug development biotech Race Oncology has raised $1.8 million in equity funding to help it implement a five-step strategy to bring back a previously lost cancer drug. 

The funding  comes from the biotech focused investment firm Merchant Opportunities Fund via a placement of six million ordinary shares, priced at $0.30 per share, by Race Oncology. 

“To have attracted such strong support from a successful biotech institutional investor with a proven track record of picking promising early stage life sciences companies is a significant validation of Race’s plans and future potential,” Race CEO Peter Molloy said. 

“We thank Merchant for their support and are now funded to progress our ‘5-path’ clinical strategy for Bisantrene. We look forward to reporting progress on our clinical trials and related activities in the months ahead.” 

The funding now enables Race to pursue a five-path clinical development pathway for the drug Bisantrene, throughout 2020. 

Bisantrene is a cancer drug developed to treat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) but which was lost in the early 1990s due to a series of pharmaceutical mergers. Race Oncology rediscovered the drug after its founder was interested by the promising data Bisantrene has shown in previous clinical trials. 

The drug is currently being investigated in a clinical trial at the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel.