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Marinomed launches Initial Public Offering on the Vienna Stock Exchange

Vienna-based Marinomed Biotech AG (“Marinomed” or the “Company”), an established biopharmaceutical company creating innovative therapies for allergy, respiratory and eye diseases, has announced the timeline and the terms of its initial public offering (the "Offering"). An application will be made today for admission of all of its shares to the official market in the prime market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Marinomed has a broad pipeline with multiple, de-risked and late stage assets and an extensive experience in bringing products to the market. With its Marinosolv® technology platform, Marinomed plans to enter the multi-billion dollar markets for the treatments of allergies and eye diseases. Next to that, the products derived from the Carragelose® platform have proven their worldwide potential as first causative treatments against common cold and flu-like diseases. Both platforms have the potential to expand further by developing new products in additional indications. The initial public offering (“IPO”) should enable Marinomed to continue its success story with the strategic and financial flexibility of a listed company.

Key Terms of the Offering

The Offering comprises up to 400,000 new bearer shares (base size), which may be increased by up to 20% (the upsize option) resulting in up to 480,000 new bearer shares to be offered. In addition, the Offering may be increased by up to 15% of the number of new shares subscribed for in the Offering through an over-allotment option (greenshoe option), increasing the total number of shares offered to up to 552,000 new bearer shares.

The Offering consists of:

  • A public offering to retail and institutional investors in Austria
  • A private placement outside Austria to selected institutional investors, including a private placement within the United States to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended
  • A private placement outside of the United States to certain other eligible institutional investors in reliance on Regulation S under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended

The price range for shares to be offered has been set at EUR 75 to EUR 90 per share. The final price per share offered in the Offering will be determined during the Offering period through a book-building process. The offer price will be a single price in euro, exclusive of the Austrian tax on stock exchange transactions, and of costs, if any, charged by financial intermediaries for the submission of applications.

The volume of the Offering will be ca EUR 30m (at the lower end of the price range, without exercise of the upsize option or over-allotment option) and may increase to ca EUR 50m (at the upper end of the price range, including exercise of the upsize option and over-allotment option). The implicit market capitalization of the Company will thus be between ca EUR 118m and EUR 154m in case of a listing (based on the aforementioned minimum and maximum ranges for the price range and number of shares as well as assuming all convertible bonds will be converted).

The proceeds of the IPO are envisaged to fund:

  • Pivotal phase III study of Budesolv
  • Phase II and phase III studies of Tacrosolv
  • Extension of the Marinosolv® technology for additional indications (e.g. lung)
  • Broadening of the Carragelose® product portfolio (in particular by launching the decongestant product line)
  • Increasing Carragelose® brand awareness
  • Co-fund additional clinical studies for Carragelose® (e.g. for marketing authorization in the US)
  • General corporate purposes such as establishing a cost-effective supply chain for low price markets and repayment of debt

Expected timetable of the Offering

The Offering period starts on Monday 19 November 2018 and is expected to run until Thursday 29 November 2018, subject to early closing.
The final Offering price will be determined on the basis of the bookbuilding and is expected to be published on 29 November 2018.
An application will be made today to list the shares on the Official market in the prime market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange under the symbol “MARI”. Trading is expected to commence on 4 December 2018.

Erste Group and Kempen are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners. goetzpartners securities functions as Co-Lead Manager.

Dr Andreas Grassauer, Chief Executive Officer of Marinomed, commented: “As a biopharmaceutical company, we are focused on people's health. This area will become even more important in the future as prosperity grows worldwide. With our innovative pipeline and products we want to treat allergy, respiratory and eye diseases more effectively, with a faster onset of action and fewer side effects. The IPO will allow us to accelerate product development, expand into new markets and take full advantage of growth opportunities. We look forward to continuing our success story as a listed company.”

Company Highlights

Established biopharmaceutical company with a global presence

Marinomed is a Vienna-based biopharmaceutical company established in 2006. Using its two in-house developed platforms, the technology platform Marinosolv® and the OTC platform Carragelose®, Marinomed has built a broad pipeline with multiple, de-risked and near-to-market products.

Marinomed has strong experience in bringing products to the market with currently six different Carragelose® products successfully marketed to treat viral infections of the respiratory tract.

Marinomed has achieved a lean, “asset light” business model in tandem with strong growth by outsourcing the cost intensive components of the value chain. The Company’s products are manufactured and sold via partners and licensees in over 30 countries around the world. This approach enables the Company to maintain the focus on its main strength: the generation of IP and development of commercially viable products.

Marinosolv®: an innovative drug delivery platform focused on allergy and eye diseases

In 2015, Marinomed succeeded in creating a technology platform that improves the solubility in aqueous formulations of hardly soluble compounds (from 10 to over 1,000 times). The Marinosolv® platform thus can deliver products with better bioavailability, especially for the treatment of sensitive tissues such as eyes and nose. This allows a dose reduction, a faster onset of action and less active pharmaceutical ingredient ("API") in the rest of the body, which can reduce possible side effects. In addition, Marinosolv® allows the production of preservative free products with lower production costs. Products currently developed through the Marinosolv® platform are highly de-risked as these contain well-known, safe and effective APIs.

The platform’s lead product is Budesolv, a solubilized version of corticosteroid budesonide, currently in a pivotal phase III clinical trial for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Phase III results are expected to be available by the end of Q2 2019 and market launch of Budesolv could already take place in 2021, proving the potential of the Marinosolv® platform and giving Marinomed access to a multi-billion dollar market with a strong growth outlook.

The second Marinosolv® derived product in the pipeline is Tacrosolv, a solubilized version of immunosuppressant Tacrolimus, which will be entering phase II clinical trials in 2019 for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis and will subsequently be investigated in Phase III pivotal trials for allergic conjunctivitis and dry eye syndrome, two well-known blockbuster indications.

The Marinosolv® platform has significant additional potential for many other indications through proprietary programs and/or Pharma licensing deals, as 40% of approved drugs and nearly 90% of molecules currently in the discovery pipeline are poorly water- soluble 1.

Carragelose®: a powerful OTC platform focused on respiratory diseases

Carragelose® is based on a natural red algae compound that forms a protective layer in the nose and is clinically proven in four clinical trials to be active against more than 200 different respiratory viral strains.

The Carragelose® platform has already generated six different products to treat viral infections of the respiratory tract, which are sold globally via established partners and which generated approx. €28m-€43m in retail sales in >30 countries in 2017. The use of the nasal and throat sprays as well as the lozenges based on Carragelose® in case of viral infection of the respiratory tract may reduce viral load by up to 99%.

Marinomed is thus well positioned in a fast-growing segment of the OTC market (market for non-prescription drugs). The cough, cold and allergy (CCA) market, the target market for the Carragelose® portfolio, is currently worth USD 28bn and is expected to grow by 5% annually (CAGR) reaching USD 36bn 2 in 2027. Carragelose® has a significant growth potential through the development of new products (such as a decongestant nasal spray which combines Carragelose® with Xylometazoline), near term launches of (new) products in major markets and a higher level of market penetration in existing markets.

Experienced leadership team backed by high quality boards

Marinomed is led by an experienced management team with strong expertise in virology and infectious diseases, allergies, immunology and molecular biology. The team, headed by CEO Andreas Grassauer, CFO Pascal Schmidt and CSO Eva Prieschl- Grassauer, has an extensive background in product development in pharmaceutical companies.

The management team is supported by an experienced Supervisory Board and an internationally renowned Scientific Advisory Board, including Prof. Ron Eccles, Prof. Bala Ambati, Prof. Talin Barisani, Prof. Julian Crane and Prof. Marco Idzko.

Marinomed has raised over €30m in total equity and non-dilutive funding to date.

Sources

  1. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, September 2015 issue
  2. Nicholas Hall OTC Yearbook 2018

About Marinomed Biotech AG

Marinomed Biotech AG is a Vienna based biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of innovative products derived from patent protected technology platforms to treat respiratory and ophthalmic conditions. The Carragelose® platform comprises innovative patent protected products targeting viral infections of the respiratory tract. Carragelose® is used in nasal sprays, throat sprays and lozenges, which are sold in more than 30 countries around the world in collaboration with international partners. The Marinosolv® technology platform increases the efficacy of hardly soluble compounds for the treatment of sensitive tissues such as the eyes and nose. Further information is available at www.marinomed.com.

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