WALTHAM, Mass., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AltaRex Corp.
(TSE: AXO, OTC: ALXFF) today announced it has closed its previously announced
private placement of special warrants, resulting in gross proceeds of C$8.4
million to the Company. Net proceeds of the offering will be used for the
continued funding of the Company's lead product OvaRex(R) MAb, which is in
late-stage clinical development for the treatment of ovarian cancer, and for
working capital purposes.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000831/ALTREXLOGO )
HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. is acting as agent to the Company in this
financing. Upon issuance of a receipt for a prospectus filed with the various
regulatory authorities in certain provinces in Canada, each of the three
million special warrants, priced at C$2.80, entitles the holder to acquire one
common share of AltaRex for no additional consideration.
The proceeds from this private placement came from investors in the United
States, Canada and Europe. The investors included Dompe Farmaceutici S.p.A.
(Dompe), the Company's partner for commercialization of OvaRex(R) MAb in
Italy, Spain, Portugal and certain other European countries, and FAES S.A.
(FAES) of Spain, a leading pharmaceutical company in Spain and Portugal. FAES
will commercialize OvaRex(R) MAb in the two countries on behalf of Dompe and
AltaRex. The equity investment made by FAES in this financing satisfies
Dompe's milestone obligation to AltaRex upon commercialization of OvaRex(R)
MAb in Spain and Portugal. Dompe maintains an option to purchase an additional
US$5 million in equity of AltaRex in a private placement concurrent with a
future public offering of common shares in the United States.
The Special Warrants and the Common Shares issuable upon conversion of the
Special Warrants will not be or have not been registered under the U.S.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the
United States absent registration or applicable exemption from registration
requirements.
About AltaRex
AltaRex Corp. is focused on the research, development and
commercialization of antigen-targeted antibody-based cancer therapies,
utilizing monoclonal antibodies as immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment
of certain late-stage cancers. OvaRex(R) MAb targets the tumor associated
antigen CA 125 and is in the final stages of clinical evaluation for ovarian
cancer with commercialization expected in the United States, assuming timely
regulatory approval under accelerated provisions, in 2002. Clinical data
reported to date evidence a prolongation in time to relapse and/or survival in
the treatment of ovarian cancer, without the toxicities seen with
chemotherapy. BrevaRex(R) MAb targets the tumor associated antigen MUC1 and
has successfully completed a Phase I safety and immunology study.
The Company plans to initiate a Phase I/II clinical study of BrevaRex(R) MAb
for the treatment of multiple myeloma this year. ProstaRex(TM) MAb targets
the tumor associated antigen PSA and has successfully demonstrated robust T
and B cell immune responses in preclinical study.
Additional information about AltaRex research and development, news and
events can be found on its web site at http://www.altarex.com. AltaRex Corp. is
traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AXO, and over-the-
counter in the United States under the symbol ALXFF. Clinical information can
be found at http://www.centerwatch.com. Additional information about ovarian cancer
can be found at http://www.nci.nih.gov, http://www.ovarian.org., http://www.ovariancancer.org and
at http://www.ovariancanada.org. Additional information about multiple myeloma can be
found at http://www.multiplemyeloma.org.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from
the statements made. For this purpose, any statements that are contained
herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-
looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to our need for capital and the risk that the
Company can not raise funds on a timely basis on satisfactory terms or at all,
changing market conditions, completion of clinical trials, patient enrollment
rates, uncertainty of pre-clinical, retrospective and early clinical trial
results which may not be indicative of results that will be obtained in
ongoing or future clinical trials, new corporate alliances, the establishment
of manufacturing processes and the scale up of cell culture material, the
timely development, regulatory approval and market acceptance of the Company's
products, uncertainty as to whether patents will issue from pending patent
applications and, if issued, as to whether such patents will be sufficiently
broad to protect the Company's technology, and other risks detailed from time-
to-time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission and Canadian securities authorities.
THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN.
SOURCE AltaRex Corp.
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Related links:
http://www.altarex.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000831/ALTREXLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/128163.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 128163
CONTACT:
Sondra Henrichon, Director, Investor
Relations and Corporate Communications of AltaRex Corp.,
781-672-0138 ext. 1510, shenrichon@altarex.com, or Wayne Hendry,
Investor Relations of The Equicom Group, Inc, 416-815-0700 ext.
238, whendry@equicomgroup.com
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