NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Australian molecular diagnostics firm Genetic Signatures today said that it plans to offer up to A$15 million (US$13.1 million) of its shares in an initial public offering.
The firm said in a prospectus that it seeks to raise between A$12 million (US$10.5 million) and A$15 million through an offering of up to 37.5 million shares of its stock at A$.40 per share. Proceeds will be used primarily to fund expansion into the European and US markets and the development of additional products, according to the company's prospectus.
Genetic Signatures filed its prospectus ahead of its scheduled December 23 listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The company makes tests with rapid time-to-results intended for high-volume hospital and pathology labs using its proprietary diagnostic technology, 3Base. The assays have the potential to test for an array of pathogens and are "platform agnostic, thereby maximizing the addressable market by reducing the need for capital expenditure by customers," according to a statement by Genetic Signatures.
Genetic Signatures' current product portfolio includes multiplex real-time PCR pathogen detection kits called EasyScreen, as well as kits for DNA bisulphite modification. The company said that nearly 37,880 tests using EasyScreen reagent products were done in Australia in FY14.
Genetic Signatures has focused on developing and commercializing a suite of real-time PCR-based products that are used by hospitals in Australia for the routine detection of infectious pathogens that can cause gastroenteritis, such as Norovirus and C. difficile, the company said. It also plans to launch additional products for the detection of pathogens associated with respiratory diseases, sexual health infections, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas, tuberculosis, and meningitis.
In the US, Genetic Signatures recently established a senior management team that includes Mike Aicher, founder of The National Genetics Institute (a subsidiary of Laboratory Corporation of America), and current CEO of Omicia.