Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing an Allogeneic CAR T for blood cancers, has successfully completed an $11.1 million (before costs) placement. Its lead asset, azer-cel (azercabtagene zapreleucel), is an off-the-shelf (allogeneic) cell therapy CAR T drug targeting CD19 to treat blood cancers. The capital raise, announced today, will primarily fund the continued advancement of azer-cel through key clinical and regulatory milestones, alongside serving general working capital purposes, extending the company’s funding into calendar year 2027.
The placement involved the issue of approximately 117.1 million new fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of $0.095 per share. It garnered significant support from both new and existing institutional investors, including long-only global funds. Notably, a global, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company participated, subscribing for approximately 14% of the placement, subject to shareholder approval. Directors of Imugene also subscribed for a portion of the placement, subject to shareholder approval. Bell Potter Securities Limited acted as Lead Manager and Bookrunner for the placement.
This strategic capital injection follows recent positive clinical data from the concurrent BTKi + azer-cel combination cohort (Cohort 3) of the company’s Phase 1b study. Imugene reported complete responses in the first two evaluable patients: a Follicular Lymphoma patient and a Mantle Cell Lymphoma patient. These early results strengthen the clinical rationale for azer-cel in patients whose disease has progressed following BTKi therapy, addressing a therapeutic market valued at over US$12 billion annually.
Imugene anticipates further patient readouts from both the BTKi combination and CAR-T naïve cohorts over the next six to twelve months. These updates are expected to include presentations at major scientific conferences such as ASH in 2026 and ASCO in 2027. The company believes this upcoming period of data generation will be crucial for advancing its business development activities and ongoing discussions regarding potential collaborations for azer-cel.
