Invion, a biotech that has shifted from fixing inflammation to treating cancer with lasers, has only $281,000 with which to achieve its new dreams.
As of the end of December, Invion (ASX:IVX) burned $438,000 as it repositioned into the cancer sector.
It is now 70 per cent owned by Unlimited Innovations Group.
It’s an entity that is owned by the new chairman Thian Chew, the owner of the business that provided the technology, Honsue Cho, and their investment vehicle Polar Ventures.
Invoin plans to raise $2.5 million this quarter and spend almost all of it — $2.2 million — on costs and paying off a $1.6 million debt.
Mr Cho’s Cho Group will be shouldering the costs of the business of treating cancer.
“Activity in coming quarters will primarily be directed to the clinical development of Photosoft, the fully burdened costs of which will be funded non-dilutively via Invion’s R&D services agreement with The Cho Group,” the company said.
Invion’s move into the field of cancer treatment involves treating the disease not with drugs, but with lasers.
Invion describes its “New Generation Photo-Dynamic Therapy” as “a new generation photosensitiser derived from chlorophyll”.
Chlorophyll is the green pigment that plants use to convert light into energy.
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Invion says the laser therapy activates a photosensitiser in tumours “which collects in solid cancer cells”. Specific wavelengths of lasers “initiate a cascade of molecular reactions that can specifically destroy those cells”.
The efficacy of the treatment is still only hypothesised, as Invoin says in its quarterly report.