ASX-listed Zelira Therapeutics has secured an additional US$3.25 million (A$4.89m) to fund its US clinical trials for HOPE 1, its cannabinoid-based autism treatment.
The company has now secured just over one-third of the US$35m required for the trial, which is intended to support registration of the medication with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The most recent funding came from charitable organisation the Forman Family Foundation, following an earlier $8.6m investment from Cantheon Capital, a backer of cannabinoid and psychedelic biotechnology companies.
Zelira managing director Dr Oludare Odumosu said the cash injection from the foundation will "further propel our efforts to revolutionise the field of cannabinoid medicines".
Epsilon Healthcare
Epsilon Healthcare has named Peter Giannopoulos, previously at the helm of both Cell Therapies and Ramsay Healthcare (RHC), as its incoming CEO.
Giannopoulos brings more than 25 years of experience in the Australian healthcare sector, most recently at Cell Therapies, where he led capital-raising efforts to support the company's expansion in the cell and gene therapy space.
Before that role, he spent 12 years driving diversification at RHC, Australia's largest private hospital provider. During his tenure, he grew Ramsay Pharmacy Group from a single site in 2007 to a 90-location operation generating revenues exceeding A$400 million.
He takes over from Jarrod White, who departed the company last year but retains a shareholding in the business.
Creso Pharma
Creso Pharma has received firm commitments to raise A$2.5 million through the issue of nearly 205 million new fully paid ordinary shares priced at $0.0122c.
The company said the raise drew strong support from new and existing institutional, sophisticated and professional investors, including commitments from founder and former chairman Adam Blumenthal totalling $900,000, pending shareholder approval.
The proceeds will go toward clearing and repaying existing debt facilities, advancing the phase II clinical trial of wholly-owned psychedelic subsidiary Halucenex Life Sciences, and supporting ongoing regulatory, M&A and product development activities.
The raise comes fewer than seven days after Creso pushed back against questions about its ability to raise capital from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) regarding the company's financial position.
In what appeared to be a further show of defiance, Creso also published May sales figures for Mernova Medical showing new purchase orders exceeding A$662,000.
Those figures followed sales of $554,000 in April and the division's first cashflow positive quarter in the three months to March.
"Mernova continues to deliver strong sales growth via [Canadian] province partners and we have a positive outlook through to the end of Q2 and beyond," chief executive and managing director William Lay said. "We continue to witness pleasing demand for the group's product range which is now sold through eight Canadian provinces."
Separately, Creso said Health Canada has renewed Mernova's cannabis licence for a further five years following a Good Production Practices (GPP) review.
Mernova is "continuing to explore" the potential of seeking a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) licence.
