Advanced Oncotherapy PLC (LON:AVO), the developer of proton beam systems used to treat cancer, has completed a share placing with Swiss investors that brought in £6.41mln.
Shares were issued at 49p each, which was a modest discount to last night’s closing price of 51p, with a number of prominent private banks and healthcare providers buying into the company.
READ: Advanced Oncotherapy on track with development of its LIGHT system
The cash injection from the fundraise, which was organised by Geneva-based Synergy Wealth Management, will be used for “general working capital purposes” as the company continues to develop its LIGHT proton beam system.
LIGHT stands for Linac Image Guided Hadron Technology. The AVO kit is cheaper and smaller than the current units, which are almost prohibitively expensive.
It has the ability to propel protons at the speeds generated by much larger machines.
The proton accelerator used by Advanced Oncotherapy was licensed from CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which is currently hunting the ‘God particle’.
Shares well bid
The shares, which were 16.5p a year ago, are currently changing hands for 53.5p each, up 5%.
Today, the business is worth £87mln, reflecting the progress that has been made in recent months.
In June, it told investors that work to develop the first centre for the LIGHT system, on London’s Harley Street, was progressing to plan.
The first patients are expected to be treated in the second half of 2020. AVO is also in discussions for a second site in Birmingham and is assessing a number of potential sites in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.