IIQ raises receives cornerstone support for a $9.5M capital raise

Our biotech Investment Inoviq (ASX: IIQ) just raised $9.5M with major backing from one cornerstone investor.

IIQ is a cancer diagnostics and therapeutics company developing an exosome platform technology.

Exosomes are tiny, microscopic extra-cellular “containers” released by ALL human cells.

Exosomes can carry ‘messages’ - clues as to whether or not someone has a disease - which is why IIQ has applied the platform tech to develop diagnostics products.

The company’s two main focuses right now are:

1. Ovarian cancer test - There is currently no recommended screening test for women who show no symptoms, so IIQ’s diagnostic (EXO-OC) with over 99.6% specificity could be developed into the first-ever population screening tool for ovarian cancer.
   
   
2. Triple negative breast cancer - In vivo trials coming (in human), where IIQ has shown “in vitro” (in test tube) that its therapeutic was able to kill more than 90% of the cancer cells within 10 hours of treatment.

Today’s raise which was done at 35c was cornerstoned for $5M by Tian An Medicare - Tian are a Hong Kong-listed company with healthcare networks in China (maybe, in the future, they can help open doors for commercialisation in China).

IIQ also announced that it would look to raise another $2M via a Share Purchase Plan (SPP_ that is open to existing shareholders (who held stock on Friday 10th October).

The SPP will basically be open to existing shareholders before today, anyone who buys stock now won't be able to participate in the SPP.

Here is an indicative timetable for the capital raise and SPP:

(Source)

After the placement and the SPP are completed, IIQ will have ~$17.2M in cash. (Source)

IIQ will now have a solid cash runway to develop both its ovarian cancer test and its exosome therapeutic program.

What’s next for IIQ?

IIQ also put out an updated presentation to go with today’s capital raise.

Here is a list of catalysts we are looking forward to seeing from IIQ over the coming months:

In particular we are looking forward to the following catalysts:

• 🔄Updates on solid tumour therapy in vivo studies (targeting Q4 of this year for in vivo results with Peter Mac)
• 🔄Clinical validation studies for highly accurate ovarian cancer screening test
• 🔄A lab partner for SubB2M tests (for breast cancer monitoring)
• 🔄Development of exosome diagnostic for neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's.