Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) announced it has formally filed the documentation ahead of its listing in the US as it provided an update on the progress of its drug pipeline, financial position and new hires.
In the wide-ranging update, the drug developer said it has submitted its registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to list American depositary shares on NASDAQ, home to some of the world’s largest life science companies.
On its pipeline, the gene silencing specialist, which recently partnered with AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN), said an investigational new drug application would be made for experimental cardiovascular drug SLN360 later this year.
SLN124, meanwhile, has received rare paediatric disease designation to treat blood disorder Beta-thalassaemia and has orphan drug designation for a form of cancer called Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).
Silence said patient recruitment will recommence under two new protocols, SLN124-002 and SLN124-003, with clinical trial applications to be filed in the second half.
The former is to be a phase Ib assessment of 112 adults with non-transfusion dependent thalassemia and very low- and low-risk MDS.
The latter will be a phase I single ascending dose study in healthy people to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
Following a share purchase by AstraZeneca as part of its partnership with Silence and an upfront payment under their licensing agreement, the AIM-listed RNAi specialist has £52mln in the bank. A further £32mln will be paid by AZ by end of the first half 2021 at the latest, investors were told.
Silence has strengthened the team with the appointment of Eric Floyd as head of regulatory affairs, while former GlaxoSmithKline scientist, Dr John Whittaker, has joined the scientific advisory board.
The search for a chief executive continued, said chairman Iain Ross.
He added: “2020 to date has seen Silence continue to make exceptional progress in securing additional high value partnerships, advancing our proprietary pipeline and further augmenting our senior team.
“The board is continuing its search for a new CEO as we move on to the next exciting phase of expansion for the Company with our intention to issue ADSs on NASDAQ.
“We continue to monitor the evolving COVID-19 pandemic but are pleased to note that we have not experienced any significant disruption to our operations.
“Our significantly strengthened balance sheet ensures that we are in a robust position to weather any uncertainty whilst equipping us with the capital to further accelerate our important RNAi programmes and platform."