Shares in VolitionRx Ltd (NYSEMKT:VNRX) rose as the company received a cash infusion of US$1.5mln.
SOFINEX, a public organization focused on the internationalization of Walloon companies and encouraging exports throughout the world, provided US$1.2mln by means of a loan while the Walloon Region of Belgium has chipped in with US$294,000 non-repayable grant.
The US$1.5mln received is in addition to the US$947,000 in loans previously provided by Namur Invest over the last 12 months and is consistent with Volition's policy of securing funding without, where possible, diluting shareholders.
The purpose of the loan is to support the development of Belgian Volition's subsidiary, Volition America Inc, which announced in July its participation in a large 13,500 subject colorectal cancer screening study in the US.
This study is to be conducted in conjunction with the Great Lakes New England Clinical Validation Center funded by the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Early Detection Research Network (EDRN).
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"We are delighted with the financial support that we continue to receive from our local agencies SOFINEX and Namur Invest, as well as the Walloon Region, Belgium,” said Dr Gaetan Michel, chief executive officer of Volition's subsidiary, Belgian Volition SPRL.
“We are committed to the region and plan to recruit even more of the talented scientists in the area. This funding will support our continued research and development activities towards what we hope will be life-saving cancer diagnostic tests."
Shares in Volition were up 2.2% at US$2.74 on Friday morning, also boosted by the announcement of its plans for a new range of clinical research use only (RUO) kits based on its proprietary Nucleosomics technology.
The company, best known for its Nu.Q blood tests to detect cancer, has already received an order for RUO kits from a large multinational pharmaceutical company.
The RUO kits use the same platform as Volition's cancer diagnosis panels but may be used for many other purposes, for example as an aid to drug development and treatment selection,Volition explained.
Volition aims to offer off-the-shelf kits initially with a total nucleosome assay in the first quarter of 2018, followed in the second quarter of 2018 by a range of kits initially developed for its own internal cancer diagnostic development programs. The RUO range will allow researchers to explore patterns of epigenetic modifications (inherited traits) in circulating nucleosomes across a broad range of clinical applications including cancers, inflammatory and infectious diseases.
"This is a very important milestone for Volition as it represents our first revenue from the Nu.Q platform," said chief executive, Cameron Reynolds.
“The RUO kits could be used to develop a companion diagnostic to a pharmaceutical company's therapeutic product, so could represent an additional potential revenue stream beyond the commercialization of our blood-based cancer tests on the same platform of assays. After the initial sale of the RUO kits, a significant licensing arrangement is possible if the assays become a crucial component of another company's product," Reynolds added.
Dr Mark Eccleston, Volition's business development director, said the company has received a lot of interest from potential collaborators "in the field of evaluating nucleosome profiles in a range of applications beyond Volition's core focus in diagnostics.
“Our suite of Nu.Q RUO assays will provide researchers with a complete solution for profiling cell free nucleosomes from cell to serum. This will raise the profile of our approach and broaden the application base beyond our current focus in cancer. The RUO kits will provide external validation of our technology and an expanded user base. We expect this to lead to future licensing opportunities from new clinical applications of our Nucleosomics technology," he said.