Radiopharm targets Nasdaq listing to attract US investors

Radiopharm Theranostics is aiming for the Big Apple. The Melbourne-based medical technology company that specialises in developing radiopharmaceutical products to diagnose and treat cancers is applying for a secondary listing on the New York-based Nasdaq exchange whilst retaining its primary listing on the ASX.

The necessary paperwork to initiate its application has been lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, or “SEC” and a listing application with Nasdaq. Radiopharm is hopeful both will complete their review processes by late March and, if successful, the company would be listed on the Nasdaq with its ticker expected to be RADX.

Radiopharm’s ordinary shares are currently listed on the ASX under the RAD ticker and the company says this will continue following the Nasdaq listing.

A Nasdaq listing will boost Radiopharm’s presence in the all-important American market which the company, like many Australian high-tech companies, is keen to crack due to the market’s size.

The company itself says the move is part of an ongoing strategy to expand its reach to US institutional and retail investors by enabling them to purchase Radiopharm shares via a US stock market in the American time zone in US dollars.

Last October, Radiopharm announced it was preparing to approach the US Federal Food and Drug Administration, or “FDA” to get its “Pivalate” cancer treatment into the US after it had concluded a successful trial in the UK.

The company will also soon start clinical trials of its pancreatic cancer-finding peptide in a New York institute after getting the go-ahead from the FDA.

Radiopharm Theranostics CEO and Managing Director, Riccardo Canevari said: “We are confident that obtaining a listing on Nasdaq will complement our loyal existing Australian shareholder base by expanding Radiopharm’s access to investors globally and thereby driving increased shareholder value with enhanced liquidity for all shareholders."

The Nasdaq listing will not require any fresh capital raising. Instead, Radiopharm says it will take the form of a Level 2 American Depositary Receipt program with each American Depositary Share, or “ADS” representing 100 ordinary shares. The ADS will be represented by the ticker RADX and Radiopharm will appoint Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas as the depositary, custodian and registrar of the ADSs.

Radiopharm develops products that transmit low levels of radiation directly to cancerous cells in the body, both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. 

It has been calculated that about 10 million people die annually from cancer, the most common of which are lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers.

Easing the devastating human toll and finding a cancer cure is now big business. The global oncology market has been estimated at US$284 billion and one research company expects it will grow to US$581 billion by 2030.

Radiopharm listed on the ASX in late 2021 following a $50 million IPO to focus on developing radiopharmaceutical products to diagnose or image tumours and then destroy them by delivering radiation precisely to the cancerous cells.

Nasdaq is synonymous these days as the home to such mega companies as Apple, Amazon, Meta and Tesla and the marketplace that has produced America’s “tech” billionaires.

However, it had a humble start in life. Its name is the acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations and the Nasdaq started life as a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities dealers, or “NASD”.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to NASD that an automated market be established for securities that were not listed on a stock exchange. The suggestion was accepted and the Nasdaq became the world’s first electronic exchange. It opened for business in February 1971 and is now home to almost 4000 stocks.

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