Denali Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing a broad portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases, today announced that the company has entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain existing accredited investors to issue and sell an aggregate of 3,244,689 shares of its common stock for $17.07 per share and pre-funded warrants to purchase 26,046,065 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $17.06 per pre-funded warrant share, through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing.
The pre-funded warrants will have an exercise price of $0.01 per share of common stock, be immediately exercisable, and remain exercisable until exercised in full. Denali anticipates the gross proceeds from the PIPE to be approximately $500 million. The financing is expected to close on February 29, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.
Proceeds from the financing are expected to be used to support Denali’s ongoing research and development activities, the acceleration and expansion of its proprietary BBB-crossing Transport Vehicle (TV) technology, as well as general corporate purposes and working capital.
The financing was led by a U.S.-based healthcare-focused investor, with participation from global asset managers based in Boston and on the West Coast.
“Earlier this year, we announced that our future therapeutic portfolio will focus on large molecule biotherapeutics designed to cross the blood-brain barrier using our Transport Vehicle technology,” said Ryan Watts, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Denali Therapeutics. “The investment we are announcing today reflects the depth and breadth of our current clinical portfolio and the promise of the Transport Vehicle technology to transform the treatment of neurodegenerative and lysosomal storage diseases. We are thrilled to partner with key shareholders to be able to accelerate and expand our portfolio as we work towards a future without degeneration.”
Subsequent to the closing of this financing, Denali expects its cash, cash equivalents, and investments to be approximately $1.5 billion on February 29, 2024. This cash estimate is a preliminary estimate and based on information currently available to management, and these estimates could change.