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A drug discovery firm hopes to raise up to £5m when it floats on the alternative investment market later this month.
UK-based e-Therapeutics said the money would be used to fund clinical developments of drug compounds which it is working on, and enable it to continue developing its drug discovery platform.
The group uses “systems biology technology” to discover potential new treatments for diseases for which there is either no existing treatment or current treatment is deemed to be unsatisfactory.
The firm also uses a computer-based drug discovery platform to predict the effects of drugs on different proteins, enabling the identification of possible drugs and their likely side-effects.
The firm claims its drug discovery procedure is much faster than conventional approaches, and allows for rapid exploration of commercial opportunities.
The company has developed a portfolio of possible drugs over the past two years, including potential treatments for asthma, depression and skin cancer.
It has 10 product patent applications pending and five drugs due to enter phase II trials during the coming year.
e-Therapeutics chief executive Professor Malcolm Young said: “We are delighted to be joining the London AIM market.
“The placing will enable us to develop and broaden our pipeline, and will significantly raise the profile of e-Therapeutics with potential licensing partners.”
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