Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (SGMO) recently announced the sale of 6,100,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $10.58 per share. The public offering is expected to close by Sep 23, 2013 and generate approximately $65 million in gross proceeds.
In addition, Sangamo granted a 30-day option to underwriters to purchase up to an additional 915,000 shares of common stock.
Sangamo expects to use the net proceeds from the public offering for general corporate purposes.
These include research and development of its ZFP therapeutic candidates and research programs, commercialization activities, clinical trials, business development activities along with potential acquisitions of businesses, products, technologies or licenses.
We remind investors that Sangamo entered into an agreement to acquire privately-held Ceregene, Inc. in Aug 2013. As per the terms of the acquisition, Sangamo will issue 100,000 shares to the stockholders of Ceregene, representing less than 0.2% of total outstanding shares.
Additionally, Sangamo will also make milestone payments.
We note that Ceregene focuses on developing adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies. Sangamo will acquire all of Ceregene’s AAV assets, including a phase II candidate, CERE-110, being developed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
The acquisition will provide Sangamo over 120 issued, pending or in-licensed patents along with other technical knowhow. Sangamo expects the technical knowhow acquired from Ceregene to provide important reference materials to the company for preparing and filing Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for its novel ZFP therapeutics.
We note that Sangamo is evaluating the safety and efficacy of ZFP therapeutic for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Moreover, Sangamo entered into a collaboration agreement with Shire (SHPG) in 2012 to develop therapeutics for hemophilia, Huntington's disease and other monogenic diseases.
Sangamo currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other stocks that look attractive include Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) and Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD). Both carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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