Institutions back Verona Pharma continued drugs development

Drug discovery company Verona Pharma is raising £2.32m to underpin continuing drug development work on projects including a potentially ground-breaking steroid-free anti-asthma treatment and a treatment for unresolved coughing.

The placing is subject to shareholder approval with new funding being offered following a successful placing including institutional investors through the issue of 57,983,325 new shares at 4p per share.

Verona Pharma is focused on finding new therapeutic drugs for the treatment of hay fever, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as chronic inflammatory diseases.

Among other projects, it is finalising pre-clinical trials on an innovative anti-asthma and hay-fever treatment that does not involve steroids - RPL554.

RPL554 was invented by Sir David Jack, the former Glaxo research director who pioneered many leading respiratory drugs now in use. As well as avoiding steroids, RPL554 is also unique in not using beta agonists, which can cause side effects such as anxiety and tremors.

Verona Pharma has also launched a development programme for a drug to deal with unresolved coughing, and is additionally working to exploit novel polysaccharides as potential anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of respiratory allergies, asthma and other inflammatory diseases.

Verona Pharma chairman Professor Clive Page, said: "It is particularly pleasing that we have the continued confidence of City institutions prepared to back our discovery and development of innovative respiratory drug treatments.

"We believe it brings further stability by broadening our investor base, as well as providing funding to carry us through the critical stages of our drug development programmes."

The placing was handled by WH Ireland Ltd, and subject to shareholder approval the new shares will be admitted for trading on AIM on January 8, 2007. WH Ireland also handled a smaller £100,000 retail placing earlier this week, at 4p per share.