Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that on January 8, 2014, it closed on a $20 million investment from leading institutional and accredited investors in a registered direct placement (the “Offering”) of 6,872,859 shares of common stock at a price of $2.91 per share. In addition, the Company issued to the investors in the Offering warrants to purchase common stock equal to one-half of the number of shares purchased by the investors in the Offering, for a total of 3,436,435 shares. The warrants have an exercise price of $3.64 per share and are exercisable from the issuance date for a period of five years, and upon exercise would result in additional proceeds to the Company of approximately $12.5 million. The Company intends to use the proceeds from this Offering to fund its on-going clinical trials, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
“We are very pleased to have raised the capital in this Offering from leading institutional investors, including dedicated institutional healthcare investors. With the proceeds strengthening our cash balance, we have the resources to further advance our cell therapy and small molecule clinical trial programs,” said Richard Garr, President and Chief Executive Officer of Neuralstem. “Our lead cell therapy product candidate, NSI-566, is a spinal cord-derived stem cell therapy candidate that is in Phase II clinical trials for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition to ALS, we are targeting major central nervous system conditions with the NSI-566 cell therapy platform, including spinal cord injury and ischemic stroke. The Company expects to commence an FDA-approved Phase I safety trial in chronic spinal cord injury during the first quarter of 2014. In addition, we have recently completed a Phase Ib safety and tolerability trial for NSI-189, our small molecule product candidate for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). Our medical and scientific teams are currently reviewing the data.”