Vaccinex Announces up to $16.5 Million in Equity Financing Agreements and Provides an Update on COVID-19 Impact on its Clinical Programs

Key trials in Huntington’s disease and non-small cell lung cancer are near completion; company working with trial sites to assess delays and determine the most efficient path to topline data

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vaccinex, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCNX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering novel investigational antibody therapies in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that the company has entered into two agreements that combined could provide a total of up to $16.5 million in equity financing.

On March 27, 2020, Vaccinex put in place an open sale market agreement (an “At the Market” agreement, or ATM) pursuant to which it can issue and sell shares of its common stock from time to time for an aggregate sales price of up to $11.5 million. The common stock to be sold under the ATM agreement, if any, will be issued and sold pursuant to the company’s S-3 shelf registration statement previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and declared effective on March 11, 2020. The company has no obligation to sell any shares pursuant to the ATM.

The company also disclosed in an 8-K filing that it had entered into an equity purchase agreement with Keystone Capital Partners, LLC, pursuant to which Keystone has agreed to purchase up to $5 million of shares of Vaccinex common stock at the company’s direction from time to time over a 30-month term. Vaccinex has agreed to register the sale of any common shares sold to Keystone under this agreement.

“These agreements provide us with a significant amount of financial flexibility that we can leverage to continue to efficiently advance development of our lead therapeutic candidate, pepinemab, which targets semaphorin 4D, or SEMA4D, for the potential treatment of neurodegenerative disease and cancer,” commented Maurice Zauderer, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Vaccinex. “We continue to monitor developments with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the safety of our employees, clinical partners and patients remains our highest priority. We remain engaged with our trial sites in Huntington’s disease and non-small cell lung cancer to monitor potential disruptions to our development timelines. At this time, both studies are nearing completion, and we are hopeful that they will be completed on schedule.”