OREANDA-NEWS. Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for patients with diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and pain, announces today that it has raised gross proceeds of CHF26.1 Mio. through a private placement of new shares via an accelerated book building procedure announced on October 6, 2016.

Newron has placed 1,320,530 new shares with institutional investors at a subscription price of CHF 19.75 per share, representing a 13.4% discount to the last five trading days’ average closing price. The new shares represent 8.4% of the new total number of outstanding shares (post transaction) of 15,769,168.

Closing of the transaction will be subject to certain customary conditions. The new ordinary shares will be listed and traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the same ISIN as the Company’s existing shares (ISIN: IT0004147952) on or around October 13, 2016.

Newron will use the net proceeds of the issuance for general corporate purposes, including the financing of Newron's operations and research programs, for the development of Newron's current and future pipeline products with a focus on orphan indications and products and product candidates that need certain regulatory and development efforts to repurpose them, and if such aforementioned development programs are successfully completed, to explore the possibility of establishing commercialization operations for certain selected territories.

Stefan Weber, CEO of Newron, commented: “With Xadago® (safinamide) launched in eleven European countries by our partner Zambon and the US FDA decision on the New Drug Application NDA expected in QI/2017, Newron’s focus is now on the performance of its ongoing and potentially pivotal study with Sarizotan in Rett Syndrome, an orphan CNS disease for which Newron has already been granted an Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) in both the EU and the USA, as well as the completion of the Phase IIa study with Evenamide (NW-3509) in schizophrenia, expected to read out by the end of 2016. We thank existing and new shareholders for their support of Newron’s strategy for sustainable growth.”

Roberto Galli, Newron’s Vice President of Finance, added: ”The funds raised are expected to support our activities well through 2018, well beyond key inflexion points of our pipeline products.”

Newron (SIX: NWRN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for patients with diseases of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and pain. The Company is headquartered in Bresso near Milan, Italy. Xadago® (safinamide) has received marketing authorization for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in the European Union and Switzerland and is commercialized by Newron’s Partner Zambon. US WorldMeds holds the commercialization rights in the US. Meiji Seika has the rights to develop and commercialize the compound in Japan and other key Asian territories. In addition to Xadago® for Parkinson’s disease, Newron has a strong pipeline of promising treatments for rare disease patients at various stages of clinical development, including Sarizotan for patients with Rett syndrome and ralfinamide for patients with specific rare pain indications. Newron is also developing NW-3509 as the potential first add-on therapy for the treatment of patients with positive symptoms of schizophrenia.